African American Income Inequality Essay

In Thomas Shapiro’s “The Hidden Cost of Being African American”, Shapiro goes in depth on how wealth in America is disproportionately dispersed between different nationalities. Mainly between Caucasians and African Americans. Shapiro has helped paint the image of wealth inequality and has shown how this is even more staggering than the wage gap between African Americans and Caucasians. Some of the theories he indirectly uses in his book and that I will be exemplifying are generational wealth and support systems, education, and the idea of how poverty only begets more poverty.

In 2008 black male workers only made 74 cents to every dollar made by a white worker with equal education. This is a significant issue because it creates a self reinforcing system that puts a large portion of the population at a disadvantage. Although the poor economic situation for African Americans in the U.S. may not be as prevalent as it was in the 1930’s, there still exists a significant gap between wages earned by white and black workers.

(Newman and Pedulla, 2010). This number is twice as much as whites. Even if they had a job, many African Americans work for the low quality jobs. This means low levels of income relatively whites. And also nearly 50% of the wage differences between blacks and whites result from the racial discrimination. (Greene and Rogers, 1994). So, we can say that discrimination of wages between blacks and whites play a key role to determinate the income status of blacks. Also underemployment is serious as unemployment for many Americans especially for African Americans, because generally they work in that kind of positions. In March, almost 6 percent of workers had worked part time involuntary jobs. (Newman and Pedulla, 2010).

The unemployment rate in the African American community is higher than any other group in American society. Institutionalized racism and unequal education opportunities have contributed to the unemployment rate. There are various reasons why the unemployment rate is greater in the African American communities. Consequently, Blacks are attaining higher education at a rate lower than other groups in society, and lack opportunities in the workforce. These are just two of the elements that cause the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites in America’s financial system. African men and women were brought to America for slavery. Once the slaves were freed, they had to find work and enter into the American workforce with little or no education. Therefore, countless Blacks were forced to take lower level jobs in American society. As a result, racism and inequality became institutionalized injustices that widen the wealth gap. Scores of Blacks were denied the opportunity to purchase properties and to attain assets and wealth. The majority of Whites do not know Black people’s reality and financial obstacles because White people do not face housing discrimination or scrutiny in the workplace. White people have benefited from the inequality that minorities face in the United States financial system. According to Hilary Shelton Deputy Director, Washington Bureau, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People “because of affirmative action, fairness is

In this casebook the authors contribute their ideas on what might have lead to our separations of classes and inequality among our world. Henry Louis Gates Jr. states in his article that the research that he has obtained has concluded in the fact that former slaves in the 1920’s, when African Americans were allowed to own property, had obtained land from the Southern Homestead Act and led to having a successful descendents. On the other hand he states that if the poor African Americans were given land now that they were not given long ago the community would improve and they would work harder to achieve a better life. I agree that some of the people given land and ownership would try to improve their life with education and harder work but

In Oliver and Shapiro’s “Black Wealth/White Wealth," the authors speak about how past racism has really displaced black wealth today; in addition to the inequality blacks continue to face. In comparison to whites, discrimination of blacks has put them at a disadvantage, especially when it comes to accumulating wealth. Therefore, whites have a higher chance of accumulating and passing on their

There are many factors to income inequality in this country, not all of which are connected to racism, but one’s personal choices. The most prevalent factor that contributes to income

In the united states the racial wealth gap and looking at the overall median financial wealth of white, African American, and Latino households. The typical African American family has six cents in wealth, for every dollar in wealth that the typical white house hold has, overall the possessive investment as Liptiz describes as a measure to matian a possession of social power aka there invested interested in maintaining power over minorities and have taken action to protect that investment. Most of the time society thinks in terms of white vs black people, but in reality its often white people versus all minorities. Before Africans were imported for slavery, the colonists tried using Native Americans and force them into their slavery system. When using Native Americans didn’t work out due to the logistics, the colony’s turned to Africa and the slave trade. While at the same time keeping both Native Americans and African separated from one another, not only in terms of threats and payoffs, but also in terms of early system of white supremacy in the American colonies. After slavery was abolished America turned to Asian immigrants for their cheap labor and low wage cost in the growing industlized America. Even though Asian’s

15. According to Oliver and Sapiro (1995) the “wealth gap” between blacks and whites is

Wealth determines many other factors of life such as health and education , therefore a decrease in wealth is harmful because it reduces a person’s lifespan and their ability to get out of their rough economic situation. Although subprime lending is the most current form of housing discrimination inheritance inequality, redlining and property taxes have historically caused separate and unequal communities between Black and Whites. While my paper will focus mainly on the disparities nationally between Whites and Blacks , this problem overwhelmingly affects the Hispanic community as well.

Business inequality is threatening the increase of race controversies around the world. As Al Sharpton often says, “we have come a long way from the days of slavery, but in 2014, discrimination and inequality still saturate our society in modern ways. Its existence is undeniable”(Sharpton 1). Sharpton is an American civil rights activist who attended Brooklyn College. If we look at just the business spectrum, we see that inequality exists between race; in particular among the blacks and whites. This is apparent in businesses across the world - the discrepancy between the top business executive of blacks and whites is staggering and so is the disparity between yearly wages and promotions. According to the 2013 survey of Consumer Finances, “business ownership is associated with a $252,100 increase in wealth for whites, but a $84,523 increase in wealth for African Americans”(Herring 4). Cedric Herring is a professor of sociology at the university of Maryland. He has been a statistical consultant

Uneven distribution of wealth is also a major problem, causing poverty among black people. It is suggested that due to racial segregation and a controlled political environment by white people, black people usually find it difficult to assimilate themselves into the labor force and civil society (Ducan, 1999). In the U.S., per capita income of the whites is almost five times more than that of the blacks, which clearly illustrates the serious problem of a widening wealth gap between these twodifferent racial groups. The findings from Mean Racial Wealth Gap across 181 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas shows that the standard deviation of wage between the blacks and the whites is the highest in among comparison toof different racial groups such as Latinos and white people and Asians and white people., Iit clearly points out that the most severe wealth gap exists between black and white people. However, upward mobility is restricted for the black blacks as they face racial discrimination in the process of hiring and firing. Only about half of working-age black men are employed, compared to two-thirds of white men, but even if black menpeople are employed, they are usually engaged in low-paid jobs so that they can barely affordsupport their daily expenses. It is likely that black people are being exploited in the labor

Systemic racism explains wealth inequalities are measured by the racial economic inequalities. Wealth has changed over generations and also how it’s been considered a measure of economic status. Due to hardship. Families with less wealth always tend to hit the hardest. White and African-American have a wealth gap of ten to one, meaning that American’s have ten times more wealth than African-American’s in a household. Aside from household income, Education has a role to play when it comes to systemic racism. I say that because depending on a student’s status, it can lead them to different facilities that can be available to kids in wealthier and poorer comminutes. In class, we talk about helping kids to get off to a good start and you pretty much get what you pay for.

One particular area that’s had an enormous impact on the immense disparities between black and whites in the U.S. is homeownership and residential segregation. For the average citizen, the majority of their illiquid financial wealth is stored away in their assets. It’s usually the case that the asset that accumulates the most wealth is the property or home they own. Analysis of discriminatory residential policies reveals that the U.S. government allowed racist practices produced a substantial gain in wealth for white citizens who

Black men are being denied the chance of a full life with all of the rights; privileges and opportunities of white men and similarly, the families/communities from which they come from are also at a significant disadvantage. A National Bureau of Research study found that Black families between 2004-2008 were 54% more likely to be charged higher on their mortgage rates than white families. This fact alone drives two main issues I will explore in this paper: the implications of socioeconomics and how inequality drives the American economy through the lens of mortgage lending.