I think the proper controls, if you are going to do them, should be on income, sex, age, and education level, not race.
I have to disagree with you about the idea of it being a proper comparison, black American to Somali. Those two cultural backgrounds are wildly different, and that persists through generations of immigration. Somali communities develop within historically black neighborhoods in the US, but that does not make them similar nor integrated in those communities. I think this has more to do with attitudes toward skin color in the US than it does with within-community characteristics.
One thing that shocks many African Americans when they go to East Africa is that they are very often considered racially "white", in as much as racial concepts are used in a similar way. Mostly, they are not used in a similar way.
the only reason why it might "sort of" work to compare Somalis to African Americans is if one were not controlling for income, as race would be an extremely rough proxy for income.
I'd agree that this conflates a lot, particularly if not controlling for income/wealth. as i was saying, comparing to African America is effectively a very rough control for income, which would make it better than comparing to white American without income control.
I think the proper controls, if you are going to do them, should be on income, sex, age, and education level, not race.
I have to disagree with you about the idea of it being a proper comparison, black American to Somali. Those two cultural backgrounds are wildly different, and that persists through generations of immigration. Somali communities develop within historically black neighborhoods in the US, but that does not make them similar nor integrated in those communities. I think this has more to do with attitudes toward skin color in the US than it does with within-community characteristics.
One thing that shocks many African Americans when they go to East Africa is that they are very often considered racially "white", in as much as racial concepts are used in a similar way. Mostly, they are not used in a similar way.
the only reason why it might "sort of" work to compare Somalis to African Americans is if one were not controlling for income, as race would be an extremely rough proxy for income.
I certainly don't think that MI's comparison with white native-born Americans was appropriate.
I'd agree that this conflates a lot, particularly if not controlling for income/wealth. as i was saying, comparing to African America is effectively a very rough control for income, which would make it better than comparing to white American without income control.
It does seem like major cherry-picking on their part.