Reddit reviews Black Wealth / White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality, 2nd Edition
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Routledge
Thanks for doing an AMA!
A long time ago I read Black Wealth, White Wealth on the advice of a friend, and it changed my perspective on economic justice. My question: what kind of concrete steps can we take (individually and through public policy) that would help close the racial gap in wealth?
>Despite years of so-called reverse racism, whites remain atop every indicator of social and economic well-being when compared to the African Americans and Latinos who, it is claimed, are displacing us from our perch: employment data, income, net worth; you name it, and we are the ones in better shape without exception.
>Indeed, in some regards the gaps between whites and folks of color have grown in recent years, as with wealth gaps, which have actually tripled since the 1980s, now leaving the typical white family with over 20 times the net worth of the typical black family and 18 times that of the typical Latino family. Even when comparing families of middle-class income and occupational status, whites possess 3-5 times the net worth of middle class blacks, suggesting that even African Americans who have procured good careers and obtained college degrees lag well behind their white counterparts, due in large measure to the inherited disadvantages of past generations, affirmative action efforts notwithstanding.
>This is why, despite affirmative action — which may well be eradicated (at least so far as higher ed is concerned) by the Supreme Court within the month — white racial advantage remains a real and persistent phenomena in American life, and one with which fair-minded persons should still be prepared to grapple.
>To claim that affirmative action not only disproves white privilege, but indeed suggests its opposite — black and brown privilege[...] is to ignore the entire social context within which affirmative action occurs[...]
>In other words, when whites critique affirmative action, we typically ignore everything that came before such efforts — and which unjustly skewed the historical balance of power and access in our favor — and even that which continues to favor us now, from funding and other advantages in the schools that mostly serve our children, to preferential treatment in the housing market, to ongoing advantages in employment.
In other words, quit being a dufus.
The book I referenced does this. I don't recall what they find precisesly, however, if my memory serves me, after accounting for ethnicity, the wage gap becomes statistically insignificant in all age ranges.
If you really want a fight over wages, the fight is in minority women. This class of women have a statistically significant wage gap.
If you want to know where the real fight is, however, it is over wealth. Read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Wealth-White-Perspective-Inequality/dp/0415951674
Black wealth white wealth is a great read. More geared towards an anthropological/sociological perspective but interesting regardless. http://www.amazon.com/Black-Wealth-White-Perspective-Inequality/dp/0415951674