Let�s
be crystal clear. There has never been full equality in
the earning power between African Americans and white Americans.
Our free labor for over 300 years (including sharecropping,
another form of slavery) put us on a virtual treadmill where
the earnings gap has never closed. Racist policies and laws
helped to ensure the widening schism. A recent report by
the Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) underscored
this depressing fact. So don�t let LeBron James� $110 million
dollar contract cloud your vision that the entire race is
moving forward on the economic front.
The Institute reported
the wealth gap between white and African-American families
increased more than four times between 1984-2007. The wealth
of middle-income white households now exceed that of high-income
African Americans. And while income is different from wealth,
they are inextricably linked. In both cases, the disparity
between blacks and whites in wealth and income are real
and wide. It is proof that higher income alone will not
lead to increased wealth, security and economic mobility
for African Americans.
Some blacks joke that
our persistent poor economic state makes us resilient when
bad economic times fall on the country. While that is true,
there�s nothing funny about the impact of public policies
that favor the wealthiest and discriminate in housing, credit
and labor markets. Our ability to take care of our families,
build wealth and contribute to society on all levels is
compromised. While blacks could buy less and save more,
it�s the structural framework that systematically keeps
us eating the dust of our white counterparts sprinting in
front of us.
The other albatross
is the payday loan predators that generally have free reign
in our communities. Bloodsuckers like W. Allan Jones, founder
of Check into Cash, who have built their dynasties of the
backs of poor folks. Poor communities and communities of
color are often the targets subprime loans, along with payday
lending and check-cashing stores.
Unemployment and underemployment
are additional factors that affect our ability to get ahead
financially.  Currently,
the unemployment rates for African Americans are over 15%
compared to the overall national rate of about 10%. In some
cities and for certain age groups, the rates are even higher.
In an article by Orlando
Patterson entitled �Can�t Call It Progress: African-Americans
Are Earning Less Than Their Parents Did,�
Patterson says the unemployment figures reflect only part
of a broader pattern of socioeconomic disparity between
blacks and whites. He states that �nearly all indexes -
income, wealth, educational attainment, homeownership and
foreclosures - show growing gaps and a retreat from gains
made in the 1990s, gaps that are being devastatingly widened
by the Great Recession.�
Getting educated, working
hard and working smart won�t make a dent in this reality.
We must get creative about economics under a system that
ensures rich people get richer and poor folks get poorer.
The underground economy that has developed is a stop gap
measure but what really is needed are more collective forms
of economic development such as co-ops. This concept is
not totally foreign to us as a people. We brought that communal
spirit with us from Mother Africa but have allowed it to
be perverted by a system where human needs are subservient
to maximum profits for a few. It is past time for pooling
our resources and getting our economic health together as
we build stronger, viable communities.
BlackCommentator.com
Editorial Board member Jamala Rogers is Leader of the Organization for Black Struggle in St. Louis and the Black Radical Congress
National Organizer. Click here to contact
Ms. Rogers. |
Jul 15, 2010 - Issue 384
is
published every Thursday
