The racial wealth gap "worsens political and economic outcomes for the entire country." [View all]

[Garrett78]

I've written before about how social justice encompasses economic justice, which runs counter to the understanding of many. So, of course social justice and economic justice both matter, but not quite for the reason some seem to think. The latter is one component of the former.

I wrote about how it's important to have a proper appreciation for how historical injustices (both race-based and sex-based) continue to impact the present if one hopes to win the Democratic Party nomination. Institutional/structural racism and sexism (both past and present) continues to impact wealth/assets, advancement opportunities, access to certain jobs and schools, access to housing, loan contracts, dealings with law enforcement, court proceedings, health, and on and on and on.

As the subtitle to The Case for Reparations by Ta-Nehisi Coates reads, "Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole."

I've also pointed out that the vast majority of Trump supporters are Birthers, which should make clear how absurd it is to suggest that only a fraction of his supporters are motivated by white identity. Not to mention the abundance of other clues.

And I've most recently written about the dog whistling that's behind |the "working class whites" narrative, about how Democrats need to create a new narrative and not further the existing one.

Now, I'm encouraging everyone to read an article on just how stark the racial wealth gap is and why addressing it, specifically, matters. Excerpts follow:

The typical black household now has just 6% of the wealth of the typical white household; the typical Latino household has just 8%...

The median white homeowner’s house is worth $85,800 compared to $50,000 for black homeowners and $48,000 for Latino homeowners.

Much of that disparity comes from the gap in the home values in white neighborhoods versus the neighborhoods where people of color live. The roots of the gulf stem at least as far back as the 1934 National Housing Act, which redlined black neighborhoods, marking them as credit risks. Though redlining was outlawed in the ’60s, the effect persists today in the form of neighborhoods consisting mostly of people of color that have high poverty rates, low home values and declining infrastructure.

Discriminatory lending also exists today: Mortgages obtained by households of color tend to have higher interest rates.

“Even if you graduate from college, as a black college graduate, you’re faced with discrimination. So you might have done everything right, achieved the skills you need to succeed, but you won’t see a higher return. The other issue with education is that black college graduates come out with higher debt levels so they start out behind in terms of asset building,” says Ruetschlin.

Causes include the fact that blacks and Latinos are less likely to have jobs that include employer-sponsored health care, a retirement plan or paid time off. The net result is that families of color spend more of their savings on dealing with life’s emergencies such as out-of-pocket health care. Or, they have fewer wealth-building vehicles, such as tax-advantaged accounts, available to them.

Other factors stem back to homeownership and education: A child whose parents were steered into a low-income neighborhood with a low-quality school has decreased chances of obtaining a four-year degree, which also then cuts off future job opportunities. Additionally, although it is illegal, discrimination on the basis of race or national origin endures, whether unconsciously or overtly.

Those who are truly concerned with wealth inequality will grasp that the "rising tide lifts all boats" approach is insufficient.