Black Wealth (follow-up)

February 16th, 2007 • Related • Filed Under

Last month we posted on whether black dollars make no sense, a short analysis on Black wealth in America. I came across recent press release that claims the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites has grown even larger in the last decade.

In a 10th anniversary edition of “Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality,” which includes two new chapters, the authors address the increase in racial wealth inequality in the past decade and some of the state and federal policies that have been launched to address it. The authors have concluded that the gap continues to be large and that recent financial sector actions and national policy have had a negative impact on the ability of blacks to accumulate wealth. Once again, their major finding is that despite a narrowing income gap, blacks continue to have significantly less wealth than whites.

“Right now, almost 80 percent of black kids begin their adult lives with no assets whatsoever. That’s not the case for white kids. If they don’t have financial resources in hand, they have access to them through their families. Most black kids don’t have that available to them.”

-Melvin Oliver.

So what does this mean for us as Young Black Professionals? We make the income but do we have what it takes to build wealth. Wealth is what we will pass down to our children and grandchildren and, as far as financial security goes, wealth is more powerful than income. Closing the racial wealth gap is a major challenge and we are faced with the responsibility of making a difference. We must change the way we spend, save, and invest our money in order to build assets for ourselves and our families.
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Black History Trivia

Yesterday’s Answer: The Congressional Black Caucus was formed in 1970 when the 13 Black Members of the U.S. House of Representatives joined together to strengthen their efforts to address the legislative concerns of Black and minority citizens.

Who was the first African American actress to win an Academy Award?

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