Charts of the day, all viral edition by Mark J. Perry

 March 30, 2021

In the last week or so I’ve had three charts that went “viral” on Twitter, here they are!

1. Chart of the Day I (above) shows the shares of births to unmarried women by race in 2019 based on recently released US birth data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

2. Chart of the Day II (above) shows the same data on the share of births to unwed mothers in Chart I for Asians, Whites, Hispanics, and Blacks above along with median household income for those groups in 2019. For the two variables in the chart above the correlation coefficient (a statistical measure of association between two variables that ranges from -1 (perfect negative correlation) to +1 (perfect positive correlation)) is -0.99, or almost perfect negative correlation between the shares of births to unwed mothers and median household income by race in 2019.

When I posted the first chart above on Twitter, I posed the following questions: Should we be concerned? Should these differences be discussed? When I posted the second chart above on Twitter, I asked “See any patterns?” There were a number of notable, high-profile responses to those questions:

From Glenn Loury: “Yes, be concerned. And. Yes, talk about this.”

From Prager University: “We’ve said it before and we will say it again: Black America has a culture crisis that can’t be fixed by government handouts or “social justice” movements. It starts at home.”

From Andrew Sullivan: “This is central to tackling racial inequality. Without moving these numbers, not much will ever change.”

From Jordan Peterson: “Given the well-documented and multiplicitous disadvantages faced by children who grow up in fatherless families the answer is incontrovertibly yes.”

Note: Tucker Carlson mentioned Jordan Peterson’s Quote Tweet of my chart last night on his “Tucker Carlson: Tonight” show!

From author Melissa Tate: “‘White Privilege’ debunked. This is culture privilege & family privilege. Asian culture emphasizes academic achievement/excellence & values marriage & family. The result is they out-earn all other races. Breakdown of family & marriage causes poverty.”

From Sharyl Attkisson: “Have kids when you can afford them and as a couple: Family is more likely to be prosperous. Out of wedlock and single: More likely to be poor. Of all they teach our kids in school, some basic economic fundamental facts about finances could help everyone more in the long run.”

From Ben Shapiro: “This chart is vital, and will be completely ignored.”

From Obianuju Ekeocha: “70% and 69% are very high. Surely this is the root of so many problems. It is not white supremacy to point this out and it is not racist to demand a change within our communities. IMHO.”

MP: The 70% share of black births to unwed mothers is a major issue that does deserve more attention in the national discussions on racial disparities, “Black Lives Matter,” allegations of white privilege and systemic racism, etc. As long as 70% of black children are born to unmarried mothers, the black-white disparities in income, wealth, homeownership, educational outcomes, school suspensions, crime rates, incarceration rates, etc. will all continue. And of course, the racial disparities between Asians and whites (for income, wealth, education, etc.) receive almost NO attention because it doesn’t fit the narratives of white privilege, black victimhood, systemic racism, etc. …..

3. Chart of the Day III (below) displays current Ohio State University staff members whose job titles include one or more of the words “diversity, inclusion, or equity,” along with their names and salaries (data here). The “diversicrat” count at OSU exceeds 150 staff members including positions at the top like the vice provost of the Office of Diversity and Inclusion James L. Moore III at an annual salary of almost $275,000 (plus benefits) to the lower-paid ranks of diversity workshop leaders and “academic encouragers.” There are 88 “diversicrats” employed by OSU in its Office and Diversity and Inclusion alone, 22 diversity staff in the Institutional Equity Office, eight diversity staff members in the College of Engineering Diversity and Outreach office, and two diversicrats in the Fisher College of Business, and another 30 diversity staff in other parts of the university. The total annual payroll cost for this small army of OSU diversicrats comes to almost $12 million (including benefits), which would pay the current in-state tuition of about $11,500 for more than 1,000 students at the main campus and almost 1,500 students at the regional campuses.

In my Tweet, I described this as “the metastasizing “Diversity, Inclusion & Equity” (DIE) bureaucracy at Ohio State.”

In response, my AEI colleague responded on Twitter:

Wonder why identity fanaticism is on the rise? It’s being promoted by an army of busybodies. Ohio State U alone employs 150+ identity “experts.” Think of all the nonsensical, faux research promoted at conferences & workshops they attend. This has been been going on for years.