America's growing economic divide - resources for Journalists, Teachers, Policymakers, Citizens

By the Numbers

The latest and fullest data on income, wealth, CEO pay, etc. Compiled by Chris Hartman.

In the News

"On the East Side of Manhattan, two very distinct classes of New Yorkers cross paths every day: the working poor (undocumented immigrants and citizens alike), who cook, deliver, secure and protect--for little money and no benefits--and the titans of finance..." [More]

Between 1983 and 1999, life expectancy declined among women in more than a quarter of all U.S. counties. That fact could be linked to growing economic inequality. [More]

"Many social scientists believe this sudden rebirth of economic inequality is the biggest news of the last half-century," says Robert Putnam. [More]

Four big Washington think tanks have been studying upward mobility in today's America. They haven't found too much of it, among males especially. [More]

Blogs

The Black/White Divide: An Unavoidable Truth

Jun 12, 07


Dedrick Muhammad


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I was giving a presentation on the racial wealth divide at a local Black university. For every dollar of per capita income among white Americans, I said, the average African-American had made about 55 cents in 1968; more than thirty years later, it was 57 cents! At that rate, I added, it would take another 581 years to achieve income equality.

The students were stunned. They had imagined that equality was coming soon in this new millennium - not 600 years from now.

I asked them why they thought inequality had been so persistent. Some said it must be educational differences between Blacks and whites. I pointed out that while there hadn't been much progress in income, Blacks had done a lot better in terms of educational achievement; their high school graduation rate had climbed from 30 percent in 1968 to 79 percent in 2002; their college graduation rate had meanwhile increased from 4 percent to 17 percent. More shock.

Like so many others, including policy makers, these students had bought into the myth of an equal-opportunity society. It's a comforting story. It lets us believe, as individuals, that if we work hard we will be rewarded. It doesn't require us to do anything for others. It gives us a license to ignore the fact of white supremacy, an economy that disproportionately benefits the rich, and a society that looks down on the poor. In general these students have lived lives segregated by race and class and have not seen the differences in education, life style, and opportunity for the elite of America. The elite of America often times are even less aware of the disadvantages that so many endure.

I didn't have the heart to highlight another study - one that shows that with each step up the ladder of academic achievement, the gap in lifetime income between Blacks and whites increases. Over a work life, Black high school graduates earn $300,000 less, Black college graduates earn $500,000 less, and Blacks with advanced degrees earn $600,000 less than comparably educated whites.

Many of us, Black as well as white, would rather not think about the racial wealth divide. Yet the reality of the Black/white wealth divide is one that most African Americans cannot avoid.