Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Black Power Part II

Yesterday I noted an article that spoke on the mischaracterization of "Black Power" by the dominant media. Today I stumbled across an article on ZNET that was a MLK report on the state of Black America. The report only supports the contention that the high profile given to certain black big wigs is but a distraction from the real situation of the masses of Black people in the United States. In terms of asset ownership and economics the data was as follows:

Quote:
Black Americans have also made little progress compared to whites in terms of income. According to the report, for every dollar of white income, African Americans had 55 cents in 1968. Thirty-three years later, in 2001, the gap had only closed by two cents. The report notes that, at this pace, it would take 581 years to achieve income parity.

According to the report, the average black college graduate will earn $500,000 less in his or her lifetime than an average white college graduate. Black high school graduates working full-time from age 25 to 64, will earn $300,000 less on average.[my emphasis]


That 581 years number is a very interesting number given that it has been approximately that length of time since the Europeans have been meddling in African affairs in the relatively modern era.

quote:
Avis Jones-DeWeever, study director for poverty and welfare issues at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, a private research organization that has studied the racial disparities of welfare reform, found the wealth disparities -- measured by net worth, including income and assets, minus debts -- even more troubling. "[Blacks] might not be cash poor, but they might be wealth poor," she said.

The report indicates that many black Americans are indeed "wealth poor." The average black family in 2001 had a net worth of just $19,000, including home equity, compared with $121,000 for whites. Blacks also had just 16 percent of the median wealth of whites, up from five percent in 1989. At this rate, it would take until 2099 to reach median wealth parity.

"It’s very discouraging," Jones-DeWeever said. "In the 1990s, there was an increase in the black middle class, but these families still are not secure. They don’t have that wealth to serve as a Band-Aid in times of economic distress."

Exactly my point to all that can hear. How can people with such little net worth have some of the biggest collections of big cars and huge churches? if the average black family has a net worth of $19,000 and has a Honda Accord in the driveway then the car is worth more then they will be. I have a friend who was in a situation where he could not afford tires for a car he had. This same person came home with a new Altima and is in the process of goading Chysler to take back his Neon. He says he can afford the new car because he's getting a $5,000 raise. I did the math. The new car note is at least $300 dollars. which is $3600 over a year or $18000 over the next 5 years. In that same time the $5,000 over the next 5 years will net $25,000. But wait. We all know how taxes work, so really after taxes that $5000 may be closer to $4,000 in which case Nissan Motor Corp got a nice $3600 raise this year. I like nice cars. I like cars in general but I'm old enough to know better to sink $18,000 into something that isn't going to generate income.

Wake up.

Links:
http://www.zmag.org/ZNET.htm