Avg US White family has 10 times wealth of Black counterparts
3 Min Read
The Washington Post discussed the roots of racism in the United States and revealed that the median white US family owns 10 times the wealth of its black counterparts.
-
The median net worth of Black families will be zero in 2053 if nothing is done: WP
US-based Washington Post newspaper discussed racism against Black people in the United States while addressing economic differences between them and their White counterparts.
The newspaper emphasized that "the history of racism, discrimination, and violence runs deep" in the US.
The outlet explained that every time Black people make progress in an area, it is taken from them "legally", as happened when the city council of Manhattan Beach in California used legal argument in 1920 to take Bruce Beach from a Black couple who ran a private resort there. Another means of seizing Black achievements was the use of illegal and violent means, as when the middle class in Tulsa and other middle classes in Black societies were destroyed by gangs of White Americans.
The WP added that a conclusion could be reached: Black people in America lag far behind their white counterparts in every economic statistic. "The median White family has ten times the wealth of the median Black family, according to 'The economic impact of closing the wealth gap,' by McKinsey & Co."
"Black Americans can expect to earn a million dollars less than White Americans in their lifetime," The Post added.
The news outlet continued by citing a report by Prosperity Now, a nonprofit advocacy group that revealed that the median net worth of Black families would be zero in 2053 if nothing is done.
Economist Andre Perry, a senior scholar at the Brookings Institution, said in a column cited by the WP that financial literacy training would not heal the racial wealth gap calling to stop blaming Black people for the exploitation that has stolen away their money for years.
Perry continued by saying that while instilling good financial practices in high school students was a nice thing to do, it is ludicrous to believe that doing so can "will close the racial wealth gap."
Even if Black people saved every dime they had for the next 250 years, the racial wealth divide in this nation would still exist, Perry concluded.
The Washington Post cites the book "From Here to Equality," written by Darity and Kristen Mullen in which they argue that the overall amount of reparations should be determined by the amount required to close the economic gap between Black and White Americans. This would require a ten-year investment of $10 to $12 trillion, or $200,000 to $250,000 for each eligible recipient. The authors claim that this would bring Black families' wealth up to par with White ones'.
