Some of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s dreams have certainly come true. But when it comes to closing the economic gap between black and white Americans, we've got a long way to go.
On this MLK Day nearly 46 years after King's death, persistent discrimination means that black Americans are more likely than their white counterparts to struggle economically. And it's much harder for them to pull themselves out of that financial insecurity. One prominent example of how racism affects black Americans' economic prospects is in the job market, where they're much more likely to be unemployed than white Americans.
.... And are disproportionately burned by the debt-collection industry.
Debt collectors are more likely to hound black customers than white customers, even though both groups report relatively equal levels of repayment rates, according to a recent survey from think tank Demos and the NAACP.
