New Income/Poverty Census Data Out - Recession and Race Edition (Clinton: real estate, 2013)

[adelphi_sky]

Maryland suburbs of DC are still doing pretty well in terms of income vs. poverty compared to the rest of the country. Here are the DC area Maryland counties in terms of their 2012 median household income compared to 2011 (not assets; homes, cars, etc.):

County (2012) (2011) (Black Pop)
1. Howard $108,234 $98,953 (18.1%) Increase
2. MoCo $94,365 $92,909 (18.3%) Increase
3. Charles $89,203 $91,733 (42.4%) Decrease
4. Anne Ar $87,083 $84,138 (16.1%) Increase
5. PG $69,258 $70,715 (65.3%) Decrease

DC $65,231 $63,124 (50.1%) Increase* (Gentrification)

The numbers are telling in how there are stark income disparities between African Americans and Whites. While the recession affected everyone, it affected African Americans the most. This is not news. It has been highlighted in just about every article related to the subject. But here we can see how the counties with the smallest black populations enjoyed increases in income at the end of the recession and and the counties with the highest black populations decreased in median income.

*DC is the caveat in that it has been known for a while that blacks are migrating to PG and Charles county while white millennials are moving in. As DC becomes more white, you can see the result in the increase in income which helps to buck the trend in decreasing median income.

Here is an article that highlights the Northeast's wealth in terms of higher income and lower poverty compared with the rest of the country. Notice how "green" the DC area is compared to the rest of the country.

Read more: America's Wealth Is Staggeringly Concentrated in the Northeast Corridor - Emily Badger - The Atlantic Cities

Census Data

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...come-counties/
http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/24/24017.html

[Fast GTO]

So, let's put context on this.

Why were blacks impacted more than whites by the recession?

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by Fast GTO

So, let's put context on this.

Why were blacks impacted more than whites by the recession?

A larger percent of blacks hold lower-income service jobs that are directly impacted by economic slow-downs. This includes secretarial work, seasonal jobs, retail, and other low-skilled jobs. Blacks have always suffered disporportionally during recessionary periods.

In 2011, 36 percent of blacks, including 38.1 percent of black women, were employed in low-wage jobs (earning poverty-level wages or less). Among the white labor force, 23.4 percent were employed in low-wage jobs.

During the aftermath of the Great Recession, the annual unemployment rate peaked at 15.9 percent for blacks in 2010 and 2011.

The highest annual unemployment rate for whites since the onset of the Great Recession was 8.0 percent, still less than the pre-recession annual unemployment rate (8.3 percent) for blacks.

African Americans | State of Working America

[Fast GTO]

And then the question is why do those hold those jobs and not higher paying jobs.

[EdwardA]

I'm really getting tired of this inequality canard being pushed by the media. It implies that something inherently unfair is going on. Certainly there are disparities but the causes aren't because of insidious racism. When you compare the unemployment between Black college graduates and White graduates the gap between the two is 2%.

The gap has its roots mostly in education attainment.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

I'm really getting tired of this inequality canard being pushed by the media.

Do you have statistics that show otherwise?

It implies that something inherently unfair is going on.

God forbid there is anything immoral going on in the US.

Certainly there are disparities but the causes aren't because of insidious racism.

I always have a little analogy for people who think this way. Consider participants in a marathon race. Among those participants you have white athletes and black athletes. For starters, the black athletes were forced to participate. At the starting line, the white athletes have on the latest technology in running shoes, running shorts that wickers away moisture from their body and a tank top. The black athletes have no shoes, wears those shiny sweat suits, wears ankle weights and carry's water for the white athletes.

The race begins. This condition goes on for 400 yards. Naturally most of the white athletes are far ahead. While most of the black athletes are at the 400 yard mark, most of the white athletes have passed yard 800. Then comes desegregation and the end to Jim Crow. Or, in other words, the ankle weights have been removed, the black athletes have traded in the sweat suit for shorts, they now have running shoes, and they no longer have to carry water for the white athletes. Wonderful! Everything is equal now right?

But wait. The white athletes are passing yard 900 while the black athletes, having gained some ground, are at the 600 yard mark; dehydrated, ankles scarred from the weights, feet bloodied from wearing no shoes. A few have managed to catch up to the white athletes, but most have some catching up to do despite the circumstances of the past.

The point is that when someone says Jim Crow is dead, everything should be equal, I have to say not yet. Sixty years free from centuries of institutionally overt racism designed to malign, beat down, belittle, and keep under control an entire race does make make things equal and tidy. Especially when whites had those centuries to build their wealth on the backs of slaves and by taking millions of acres of Native American land that they have enjoyed farming and real estate proceeds from. Gee. I wonder why the wealth gap exists and that it is now wider than ever. Smarts?

Not only did blacks have to deal with economic slavery, but mental slavery as well. Family roles intentionally reversed to where the woman became the strong family figure to allay the fear by whites of slave rebellions. Destroy the family, make them weak. These all aren't rumors. They are a part of a dark American history that a lot of people want to sweep under the rug.

As a black male, I wish and desire for everything to be equal and fair in 2013. But looking at the numbers and understanding how America came to be, I can't buy that canard. And what's sad is my unborn son may still not see a day where this country has separated itself from its past as the wealth gap between whites and blacks is widening. Sure, some of it is not attributed to past injustices. Especially for those people that have had every opportunity handed to them. But overall, it is hard to disconnect centuries of oppression, from the disparities we see today. Look at South Africa. Free a few decades free from Apartheid, the black population hasn't necessarily reversed years of inequality. They aren't exactly sipping champagne and eating caviar just yet.

There are cycles of poverty within families. Cycles of poverty mentalities and all the issues that entails. Black people didn't wake up and say, "I'm choosing not to be economically equal with whites." That fact was handed to them when they were born.

And there are still economic and social pressures that makes the task of bridging that gap for blacks harder than whites. There are such terms as the Black Tax (The extra cost of being black) where a black employee has to work twice as hard as the white employee just to get the same raises and promotions. That BS still exists. We still see black people getting pulled out of expensive stores AFTER purchasing items, etc. Just because we have a few black CEOs and businesses owners doesn't mean we've crossed that big hurdle of equality. The numbers would show it if we had. But the numbers tell the same old story year after year for a reason.

When you compare the unemployment between Black college graduates and White graduates the gap between the two is 2%.

For the month of November 2013? What about historically? Blacks, except the one year during the Clinton administration, have historically had higher unemployment rates after graduation.

"Unemployment rate of young college graduates, by race and ethnicity, 1989–2013*"
"From http://www.epi.org/publication/class-of-2013-graduates-job-prospects/"

"White" "Black" "Hispanic"
"1989" "4.7%" "6.0%" "12.8%"
"1990" "4.9%" "11.6%" "8.3%"
"1991" "6.7%" "12.3%" "9.8%"
"1992" "6.7%" "8.0%" "9.7%"
"1993" "6.1%" "13.3%" "6.3%"
"1994" "5.4%" "5.7%" "6.1%"
"1995" "5.7%" "8.0%" "9.4%"
"1996" "5.6%" "5.3%" "6.5%"
"1997" "3.5%" "6.6%" "5.1%"
"1998" "4.0%" "5.5%" "7.7%"
"1999" "4.9%" "6.8%" "4.5%"
"2000" "4.0%" "6.4%" "4.1%"
"2001" "5.6%" "7.8%" "6.9%"
"2002" "5.3%" "6.3%" "7.6%"
"2003" "6.0%" "8.3%" "11.8%"
"2004" "5.5%" "9.4%" "5.3%"
"2005" "5.2%" "8.1%" "3.8%"
"2006" "4.9%" "8.2%" "4.5%"
"2007" "5.3%" "8.5%" "7.0%"
"2008" "6.1%" "8.2%" "7.0%"
"2009" "8.2%" "17.1%" "14.8%"
"2010" "8.9%" "21.9%" "15.4%"
"2011" "9.4%" "11.4%" "14.0%"
"2012" "7.7%" "10.5%" "10.4%"
"2013" "8.0%" "11.9%" "9.1%"

The gap has its roots mostly in education attainment.

Hmmmm. So, as long as we all have a degree, everything should be equal right? So, there would have been no need for Affirmative Action then right? Because, all things being equal, educated blacks should have been making a killing in the workforce. Yet, in the 60 years after Jim Crow and segregation, educated blacks still aren't making as much as educated whites, or hold the same wealth. Why is that?

[justtitans]

So adelphi, what do you want to change to put black people on even ground with whites?

[bowian]

Originally Posted by EdwardA

I'm really getting tired of this inequality canard being pushed by the media. It implies that something inherently unfair is going on. Certainly there are disparities but the causes aren't because of insidious racism. When you compare the unemployment between Black college graduates and White graduates the gap between the two is 2%.

The gap has its roots mostly in education attainment.

Regarding the bolded, I think the term "institutional racism" is more appropriate and a more accurate descriptor. There's definitely a history of it in the U.S., and it hasn't gone away just because blacks have some degrees, jobs, houses and cars.

Just curious, and I'm not trying to be snarky. But were you born in the U.S.?

[armory]

There needs to be a sticky for race disparity postings until the government can figure things out.

[adelphi_sky]

Originally Posted by pgtvatitans

So adelphi, what do you want to change to put black people on even ground with whites?

The only way change can happen is for everyone, especially those in power and influence, to change their mentality when it comes to race and socioeconomic disparity. First, they have to accept the fact that things just aren't equal. Not for the lack of efforts of those at the bottom, but because the playing field was never level from the start. In other words, social change has to take place from top to bottom. That doesn't take a few years or even decades.

Second, those at the top have to understand that when everyone gets to participate in the success of the country, they would benefit more and those at the bottom would be better off than they are. This was evident in the golden era during the 50s when the middle class prospered the most providing great profits to companies. Imagine if blacks were able to participate as equals during that time.

I'm currently reading a book called, "The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future." by Joseph Stiglitz.

I have also read, "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age of Colorblindness" by Michelle Alexander which gives an interesting look at the history of institutional racism designed keep blacks as second-class citizens and now the new Jim Crow type systems can be seen in the prison system in how blacks are disproportionally incarcerated which severely impacts the prospects of gainful employment once released.