Floyd Mayweather Can’t Read: Can The Men In Your Life Do Better?

Floyd Mayweather Can’t Read: Can The Men In Your Life Do Better? 

Vibe: 8.24.2014 by Aliya S. King

Amidst 50 Cent and Charlamagne Tha God's shaming of Floyd Mayweather for his reading disabilities, are you forgetting about the many everyday people who can't read?

We now all know that Floyd Mayweather may be a poor reader, thanks to 50 Cent’s challenge and radio host Charlamagne Tha God’s co-sign with audible proof of his reading disability.

Now what?

America's Literacy Directory 

National Literacy Directory

Chances are, if there are young African-American men in your life, many of them can’t read well either.

According to a study from the Nation’s Report Card, only 14 percent of all African-American 8th graders performed at or above a proficient level in reading. And the statistics for boys are even more depressing—they scored, on average, six points lower than the girls.

And not being able to read well doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Floyd may have earned millions last year but the millions of little Black boys around the country who fumble through reading aren’t making that kind of cash. And reading levels are a predictor of academic success, (especially when you can’t box like Floyd). Right now, fewer than half of African-American males receive their high school diplomas and less than 5% go on to college.

And of course, we know education is a major factor in a person’s life trajectory. The literacy rates of African-American men in this country are directly connected to the fact that the unemployment rate for Black men is twice the rate for white men.

Will making Floyd the butt of a national joke encourage young black boys to strengthen their reading skills? Doubtful. It’s more likely to make poor reading skills a source of greater embarrassment. Especially since Floyd’s response to the controversy was to post pay stubs totaling $70 million dollars with the caption: Read This.

If you put the script that Floyd was trying to read into a search engine that measures reading levels, it’s on a ninth-grade reading level. (A sentence like “The Cat In The Hat knows a lot about that,” is on a first-grade reading level).

Floyd dropped out of high school in his senior year, more than 20 years ago. So is it really a surprise that he doesn’t read on a ninth-grade level?  READ MORE !