Summative

Poverty and the Black Population

The historic unfair treatment of the Black population in America has continued to affect the lives of many poor Black families. Even though progress is advancing to diminish the racial wealth gap between Blacks and Whites, it has been lengthy. While the Black population continues to struggle with only limited help from its country, we should vote for lawmakers that'll help to regulate this systemic wealth gap.

Correlation Between Crime and Socioeconomic Status

As seen in the image to the left, homicides determined by race occur most often within someone's racial group. Since this project's based on the racial disparities that Black people face, we will solely focus on their information. Research has shown that Black people have a much higher rate of gun homicides compared to white people, about 4 times higher in highly Black populated middle-class areas. The reason why highly Black populated areas tend to be more violent is because of how Black people continue to be systemically oppressed by their own country. The government is less likely to invest and fund Black neighborhoods, resulting in fewer resources like high-quality schools, jobs, housing, healthcare, etc.

Historically, the poverty rate for Black people has always been over 10%. Between 2019 and 2020, Black people had the highest poverty rate than any other race/ethnicity, coming in at 19.5%. Even though Black people only make up about 13.2% of America's population, they make up nearly 24% of the population in poverty. This means that Black people have a higher chance of falling into poverty than any other race.

Over the last 70 years, data has proved that Black people are about twice as likely to be unemployed than White people. And even if they're able to find work, they are still discriminated against in the workplace, bringing in much less money than Whites even if they share the same qualifications. Another issue that only make the odds worse for Black people is that they are less likely to have wealthy, homeowning parents. This asset has proven to be the cause of financial stability for people later in their life, even becoming homeowners themselves. This means that the generational cycle of wealth is what White people benefit the most from.

Wage Differences Between Race

This information was gathered from workers who share the same amount of experience and education. It's quite obvious how races/ethnicities that have people with darker skin tones get paid much less compared to White people. Over the course of a career, Black men are bringing home significantly less than any other race.

Wage Differences Between Race and Gender

The difference in income between Black men and White is repulsive, but when you compare it to that of women it is much, much worse. Even though Black women make up 6.2% of America's overall workforce, they make up 10% of low-wage workers who usually earn less than $11 per hour.

Poverty Ratio Difference Between Race

In this graph, the representation of Black and Hispanic families is more than twice as different compared to Asians and Non-Hispanic Whites. Black and Hispanics are overrepresented in poverty which essentially means that the difference in information is greater than the norm. Even though the overrepresentation of Blacks and Hispanics has slowly decreased over the years, there is still a large gap between them compared to Asians/Non-Hispanic Whites.

Annual Income Differences Between Race

The annual income for Black households has increased only by 14.1%, the slowest rate compared to that of Hispanics (24.3%) and Asians (25.7%) since 2008. Non-Hispanic Whites have a steady rate of 11.1%. An average annual income for a family to live comfortably is around $50,000. Yearly income for a Black family is $5,000 less than that.

How does all of this relate to Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates? The Dreamers, as mentioned by Coates, are the people who are on the path to reaching the American Dream and becoming middle-class citizens. The truth about the American Dream is that it only works for a small portion of the population, usually for European immigrants or other White Americans. This is what Coates means by 'survivors', the very small percent of Black people who are able to get out of financial hardships and move onto being financially stable. The odds are stacked against Black people and have been for centuries. The government has given them less resources to be able to survive against poverty, which most aren't even able to get out of, displacing them to poor neighborhoods where they have to beware of the violence. Coates, himself has even dealt with these odds, experiencing the violence and poverty that takes place in Baltimore.

Works Cited:

Beech, Bettina M., et al. “Poverty, Racism, and the Public Health Crisis in America.” Frontiers, Frontiers, 6 Sept. 2021, https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.699049/full.

Bureau, U.S. Census. “Inequalities Persist despite Decline in Poverty for All Major Race and Hispanic Origin Groups.” Census.gov, 9 Dec. 2021, https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2020/09/poverty-rates-for-blacks-and-hispanics-reached-historic-lows-in-2019.html.

Bureau, US Census. “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2020.” Census.gov, 9 June 2022, https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2021/demo/p60-273.html.

Miller, Stephen. “Black Workers Still Earn Less than Their White Counterparts.” SHRM, SHRM, 11 June 2020, https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/compensation/pages/racial-wage-gaps-persistence-poses-challenge.aspx.

NAEH. “Homelessness and Black History: Poverty and Income.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, 26 Feb. 2021, https://endhomelessness.org/blog/homelessness-and-black-history-poverty-and-income/.

Patel Dee Patel Writer , Dee. “Regardless of Socioeconomic Status, Black Communities Face Higher Gun Homicides.” Penn Today, 23 Feb. 2021, https://penntoday.upenn.edu/news/regardless-socioeconomic-status-black-communities-face-higher-gun-homicides-says-wharton-study.

Page updated

Report abuse