© www.wehaitians.com
Comment: And people still wonder why so many African-Americans are taking to the streets in protest at police brutality. Whether or not the killing or abuse of an African-American by a police officer was justified is NOT the point. The point is, why do so many African-American males find themselves in confrontation with the police? What are the social conditions that produce this? Read on.
The median African-American household's net worth is just over $7,000, compared to white households with more than $111,000.
According to a new study that concludes the gap is so wide, it would take black families over 200 years to catch up. The study called 'The Ever-Growing Gap', released by the Corporation for Enterprise Development and the Institute for Policy Studies on Tuesday, examined wealth accumulation over the past 30 years.
Wealth-building policies have favored white families over black families, the study found, including the GI bill and generous mortgage rates after WWII that disproportionately helped white families achieve wealth at a time of nationwide segregation.
The federal government spent more on schooling for veterans than on the Marshall Plan, which helped rebuild Europe's economy. "Along with funding higher education on that massive scale, the GI bill also financed 40 percent of the mortgages in 1946 and 1947," stated the report, explaining the economic boom of the 1950s for so many white Americans.
The study said the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s challenged segregation, which contributed to some progress for African-Americans in the last 30 years.
According to US Census Bureau data, in 2013, 83.4 percent of African-Americans received a high school diploma, or its equivalent, up from 25.6 percent in 1964. Graduation rates for African-Americans in 1968 were 38 percent of the white rate, whereas today it is more than 60 percent.
When poverty was examined, it showed a decline from nearly 42 percent for African-Americans in 1966 to about 27 percent in 2012.Despite those gains, the study found African-Americans made almost no gains in income, and "do not even earn 60 percent of what white Americans earn, and this gap has barely moved in more than 40 years."
Comment: As long as the 1% are in control and policies favor this minority, none of the remainder of US society will gain enough footing to secure a comfortable future. Financial game changers ultimately only benefit the rich. Empty promises, higher taxes, lower returns...for the middle and lower class it is the rule.