THE SYSTEMIC AND INSTITUTIONALIZED RACISM STEMMING FROM CENTURIES OF CHATTEL SLAVERY, JIM CROW AND SEGREGATION CONTINUES TO HAVE A DEVASTATING IMPACT ON THE BLACK COMMUNITY.

 

This ‘Black Tax’ creates a massive financial burden on Black households that dramatically reduces their ability to leave a substantial legacy for future generations. When it comes to accumulating wealth in America, there has never been a level playing field for the Black Community.

 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic,  the national Black unemployment rate was roughly the same as it was in 1968 and is still double the white unemployment rate. After fair housing legislation was passed in 1968 during the Civil Rights era, the Black home ownership rate increased for 30 years and reached nearly 50% in 2004. However, the gains were erased by 2016. The U.S. Census Bureau stated the homeownership rate nationally for Black households declined to 41.7% in 2016, near a 50-year low. According to the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB), Black home ownership hasn’t been this low since the time when housing discrimination was legal. NAREB’s president Ron Cooper said, “We lost a trillion dollars’ worth of wealth that we must regain”.

 

Regarding education, the internet site Blackdemographics.com noted the number of Black people with post-secondary degrees significantly increased nationally between 1995 and 2010. In 2010, the trend began to reverse and in 2017 The Education Trust (a nonprofit organization that promotes closing opportunity gaps in education for students of color and those from low-income families) published statistical data that indicated about 41 percent of Black students who start college as first-time, full-time freshmen earn bachelor’s degrees within six years — a rate 22 percentage points below that of white students.

 

These disparities in employment, home ownership and educational attainment for Black people are exacerbated by the disparity in entrepreneurism and business development. These statistics are symbolic of "canaries in the mine" as noted by Charlene Rhinehart – Black Wealth May Fall to Zero by 2053 (Black Enterprise, July 2019). The facts make it clear that the economic health of the Black community is in dire straits and in need of an intentional strategic plan if it is to recover and thrive in the 21st century!