What DeSean Jackson Taught Us About Economic Mobility

Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles cut their star player DeSean Jackson over concerns that he still had ties to violent gangs in the Los Angeles neighborhood where he grew up. The incident highlighted the complicated connection between neighborhood, wealth, income, and the economic gaps that many people from poor neighborhoods can fall into when things go bad — even after they’ve “made it.” We revisit what the Jackson incident taught us, and talk to Jamelle Bouie of Slate, who writes about the connection between neighborhood, housing, race, and economic mobility.