Study Shows Racial Wealth Gap Grows Wider

Unfortunately, there has long been a gap between the racial wealth of white families and the wealth of African American and Hispanic families. Since the Great Recession, the gap has worsen making the gap twice than what is used to be.

Racial wealth gap study

According to a study done by the The Pew Research Center, the decline in the housing market is the main cause. The average wealth of a white family in 2009 was 20 times greater than that of an African American family, and 18 times greater than a Hispanic family.

So why such a gap? Rakesh Kochhar, one of the authors of the report said that white households went into “a stronger position and as a result were able to weather the storm”. Indicating one main reason was the real estate market. He explains minority families “had most of their wealth in their homes, so when the housing bubble burst, those households took a bigger hit”

“Especially Hispanics, for example. Sixty-six percent of their net worth derives from home equity,” Kochhar says. “And they are concentrated geographically in parts of the country such as California, Arizona, Florida and Nevada, where the housing downturn was most severe.”

What are your thoughts about the huge gap between white and minorities? Have you seen Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. The Two Nations of Black America, where it talks about the social and economic divide between the African American race? Even a segment in CNN : Black in America 3 The Almighty Debt looked at how black households are being hurt by the recession. I have always long thought about the economic divide amongst the different races. Is it because we don’t have the “proper education on finances” or is the “issue” much bigger? Notice my quotation marks.

The issue of institutional racism that many have said has been a thing of past is quite frankly not according to these figures. This has been long shown with the economic and even educational gaps between whites and minorities. I’m not crying out racism, but you have to take a look at all aspects. If I can drive into one neighborhood where there is one group of people and standard of living is sub-par and drive into the next town over where there are mansions, there is a serious problem. The racial wealth gap is something that is not new. In my opinion, the issue is bigger than the real estate market.

What are your thoughts?

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