The House that Race and Wealth Built

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I have never been totally alone in this world. I am a white, single mother of two (both daughters) and I have always had the safety net of my family’s resources. My family is not rich—at least not in my mind—but they are solidly middle class. Perhaps a century or two ago, they would have been considered upper class. The bottom line today, though, is that they have been fortunate enough to accumulate a small measure of wealth and pass it from one generation to the next. I own my home because my mother gifted me $7,000 for a down-payment and closing costs; I could not have purchased it otherwise. I have never feared homelessness or hunger.

            As a result of my own wastefulness and poor decisions, I have squandered multiple opportunities. My daughters and I live paycheck-to-paycheck, while I work full-time and take college course three-quarter time. I am going to college because I do not want to live paycheck-to-paycheck for the rest of my life; I am going to college because I want to be able to do for my daughters what my family has always done for me: provide a measure of financial stability, a sense of safety. I cannot pretend to imagine what the reality of being resource-less feels like—and I am afraid of it. It is precisely this sense of financial insecurity and instability that a majority of black single mothers live with every day. What if I lose my job? Which bill can I not pay this month so that we can buy enough food to eat? What if we lose our home? Whenever I have worried, my answer to these questions has always been that—thankfully—my grandmother and my mom were/are there for me, to help, to reassure me and ultimately, to pay my way when I could not. 

21st century America: Ironies in the racial wealth gap

 

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           Today’s ever-enlarging racial wealth gap is particularly ironic for several reasons: slavery was abolished well over a century ago. In fact, the beginning of 2013 marked 150 years since Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. It has been 50 years since the Civil Rights Act abolished Jim Crow laws. Barack Obama, our first black president, is partway through his second term. By all accounts, overt racism and discrimination are no longer the laws of the land. So . . . we are moving forward, right? Wrong. The irony is that even though overt discrimination is no longer rampant, we are not moving forward. Ironically, we are moving backward; in terms of wealth disparity, the gap is widening—and quickly, too.

Understanding the wealth gap: History as an essential element

            History is essential for understanding the widening wealth gap between whites and blacks, because it results from an accumulation of historical and present-day social policies. Consider for a moment, that race and value in America are connected from birth: black babies cost less to adopt, “Six Words: 'Black Babies Cost Less To Adopt' : NPR.”

With regard to the legacy of slavery, wealth accumulation was impossible for slaves—who, because they were themselves considered property—had no right to accumulate property (wealth). Wealth is an intergenerational function of white American society. Different from income, wealth are assets (savings accounts, investments, properties)—and for many white Americans, family assets and resources lay the foundation for the opportunities of future generations. Like I noted earlier, I would not have been able to purchase my home had it not been for my mother’s resources—her ability to pass a measure of her wealth along to me for my down-payment and closing costs.

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            In addition to a national legacy of slavery, American socio-economic policies in the 20^th century restricted wealth accumulation in black communities while promoting it in white communities. For example, restricted access for non-whites to loans through the Federal Housing Administration’s home appraisal system (redlining), white flight from urban areas and—as recently as the 21^st century—Adjustable Rate Mortgages and predatory lending practices in the financial industry have all contributed to the burgeoning wealth gap. Just last week, the Supreme Court paved the way for increasingly restrictive and discriminatory voting rights laws by undoing a key component of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Wealth disparity is an accumulation of historical and present-day socio-economic policies that favor whites.

Can we understand the wealth gap without understanding history?

            In a word: no. Wealth disparity between blacks and whites in America must be viewed from a systems perspective. In family counseling, we use the concept of the family as a system to contextualize the individual within their family of origin: all members of a family influence and impact one another—and, therefore, all members are influenced and impacted by others. The individual does not stand alone. To address individual issues/problems, the whole must be viewed as a dynamic, multigenerational and interrelated system. So, too, must the expanding wealth gap in America be interpreted and addressed from a systems perspective; to isolate one source as the single cause for disparity belies the complexity of our interconnectedness. Just as families pass wounds from one generation to another that require healing, so it has been with the lack of wealth accumulation for black Americans. As Melvin Oliver (in a PBS interview, “Black Wealth in America”) acknowledges, “African Americans have a history where there has been little wealth in the past, therefore making it more likely that there’s little wealth in the future.”   

                       Perhaps more significantly, we must contextualize the wealth gap within a historical framework so that we can recognize—and stop repeating—the policies and social systems that have resulted in disparity. It is imperative that we refrain from participating in our own subjugation. In an article entitled, “How America Built the Racial Wealth Gap,” Lawrence D. Bobo notes that “people must not misunderstand or become complicit in a distorted take on their own history and circumstances. America and American social policy built the black-white wealth gap.” We cannot understand today’s wealth gap without understanding our collective history.

 Why is the growth of the wealth gap particularly ironic at this moment in history?

                       The growth of the wealth gap is particularly ironic at this moment in history, because we are moving forward—collectively, as human beings—on so many other fronts. We have the first black president of the United State of America—elected by an overwhelming, multi-racial majority—yet he has initiated no policies specifically targeted at improving circumstances in impoverished, black communities; rather, his policies have been aimed at improving the circumstances overall for middle-class Americans. Unfortunately, these policies (like Obamacare, the 2010 Fair Sentencing Act and the 2012 American Taxpayer Relief Act) are not enough to lift up the most oppressed (the majority of whom are non-whites) and place them squarely in the middle class—never mind reducing the wealth gap! 

 

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           The growth of the wealth gap in America is particularly ironic at this moment in history, because our technological advances are exponential; we can see into deep space and have sent rovers to the planet Mars. We can perform laser surgery on the heart! We understand more about brain function now than ever before. Everyone is plugged in and connected: texting, tweeting, Facebook, Skype, YouTube, Pinterest; our gadgets are smarter than we are: smart phones, smart glasses, smart cars! We are smart people. Yet reducing (and eliminating) the wealth disparity in America has eluded us.  

With so much progress all around us, how dare we continue failing with regard to so basic a measure of equality?