Commenting on past public policies that created the racial wealth gap and current policies widening it, Joshua Holland, contributor to The Nation and a fellow with The Nation Institute, penned a thought-provoking article, The Average Black Family Would Need 228 Years to Build the Wealth of a White Family Today.
Referencing key findings from a study of the racial wealth-gap released last year by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) and the Corporation For Economic Development (CFED), Holland highlights trends in household wealth from 1983 to 2013—a 30-year period.
Due to wage disparity, Black women in particular, often do not possess enough disposable income to risk putting their hard-earned money into strategic investments such as real estate, stocks, appreciating valuables, and businesses.
As a result, Black women often do not have a legacy to pass on to their children.
“When people say Black people are somehow inferior, or are doing something wrong as to why they don’t have wealth, that is completely wrong,” Duke University economics professor, William Darity, told MadameNoire.
Wealth in America is mainly acquired through inheritance above all else.
Monique Greenwood, owner of Awkwaaba Bed & Breakfast Inns and star of Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network reality show Checked Inn, aims to change those trends and provide her daughter, Glynn, with “a gift that will keep on giving.”
Read the entire article here.
