I came across an article via The Nation and the headline read, “The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today”.
Exclusive image of me before I read any further.
Then I did some math. Didn’t slavery in the United States last for approximately 245 years? Then again there was the Reconstruction era, some freed slaves chose to stay on their respective plantations and of course, Jim Crow brought about another form of bondage, so that number is up for debate. If the aforementioned is true and slavery was abolished 151 years ago, why would it take a black family two centuries to catch up to a white family, in terms of finances?
The racial wealth gap has been widened at an alarming rate and will continue to do so within the next three decades. At this point, I had to go straight to the source to see the figures for myself.
In a study titled “The Ever-Growing Gap”, published by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the Corporation For Economic Development, researchers explored the growing divide of financial security between races. The report predicts an even deeper gap in wealth between people of color and whites by 2043. The wealth gap is predicted to double from $500,000 (2013) to $1 million.
The report says that the wealthiest 100 individuals listed on Forbes 400 have the same amount of wealth alone as the total African American population. Almost 190 of them on the same list have accumulated wealth equal to the entire Latino population.
Why the vast imbalance? Because blacks have historically received disadvantages in comparison to the white middle class.
“The United States’ middle class was largely built in the aftermath of the Great Depression and World War II. In the years after those defining events, the federal government made enormous investments to help households protect
their income, save for the future and invest in long-term wealth-building opportunities,” the report stated. “But the programs directing those public investments were either intentionally designed or implemented to create discriminatory barriers for households of color. Over the past century and beyond, a number of policies have been put in place to favor the wealth and the wealth-building capacity of White households over households of color.”
Even when we started our own means of wealth building in the early 20th centry, it was burned to the ground…literally. re: Black Wall Street.
Moving right along…
In addition to social injustices, the report attributed high unemployment rates, unfair wages, “wealth-stripping products” (prepaid cards/payday loans with high-interest rates), and educational disadvantages as a few of the hurdles to blame for the wealth crisis.
The report also provided solutions to address the disparities.
- Conduct an evidence-based, government-wide audit of federal policies to understand the role current policies play in perpetuating the racial wealth divide
- Fix unfair, upside-down tax incentives to ensure households of color also receive support to build wealth
- Address the distorting influence of concentrated wealth at the top through the expansion of existing progressive taxes and the exploration of a dedicated wealth tax
To stand a chance at surviving financially, being “twice as good” is an understatement.
Click here to read the entire report.
