Why Are Black People 'Studied' So Much?

Whether it's sex, money or reading habits, blacks are always under the microscope

Not a day goes by without at least one news outlet reporting on the latest trends in Black America.

Black people don't live that long.

Black people do not approve of gay marriage, even though a larger percentage of them are gay than any other racial or ethnic group in America.

Black people don't sleep.

Black people are struggling.

It seems like every time you sit down to read something, there always has to be a little something to remind you of what Black people are up to 24/7/365. Pretty odd considering that Blacks account for just a little more than 12 percent of the U.S. population.

Such laser focus is no new trend. After all, Black people lived through slavery, the ultimate lockdown. And we can't forget the "research" of the Tuskegee Experiment, while in modern times Blacks are being followed around in corner stores and forced to provide urine samples for welfare benefits. Keeping tabs on Black people has been America's favorite pastime for a long time now.

Some of the analysis is interesting, some inaccurate and the rest? Just silly.

Earlier this year, 40 percent of waiters across America, when surveyed, said they discriminated against Black patrons. Why? Because apparently, Blacks are bad tippers. Our guess is these waiters must not read the paper often. Because if they did, they'd know that Blacks have the highest unemployment rates. Broke people can't afford to leave big tips all the time.

Remember the study that claimed there were more Black men in prison than there were in college? Unfortunately, Black people were the first to believe and spread this information. Come to find out, the study compared the entire Black male prison population to just a sample of college aged Black men in college. Looking at the data that way, then of course, there are going to be more Black men counted behind bars than behind desks. (Though, yet another study has found that there are more Blacks in prison than there were enslaved in 1850.)

Still more studies demonstrate that -- who knew? -- not all Blacks are "thugs." Nope, there's even analysis out there on "blerds," or black nerds. According to CNN, "blerds," with their fashionable bow ties and rimmed glasses, are very popular these days.

On one of his skits on Chappelle's Show, comedian Paul Mooney once said, "The black man in America is the most copied man on the planet, bar none. Everybody wanna be a n***a but no one wanna be a n***a."

Maybe that statement gets at the heart of why Blacks are studied so much: so that others can capitalize off what they like, while avoiding whatever they don't.

A Nielsen study conducted earlier this year determined that Black people have the strongest spending power of any other race in America. Blacks spend enough to be the 16th largest country in the world. Too bad there are also studies showing that ad agencies don't bother spending much money with Black media outlets though.

Which may give us two more answers as to why Black people are always being watched:

1) They spend the most money and set the most trends in the process.

2) They are still considered to be last in line, and thus more open to experimentation and discrimination.

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