Opinion
Data Shows a Vanishing Black Middle Class
A
chapter in the National
Urban League’s 2012
State of Black America
report reached a sobering conclu-
sion about the Black middle class.
“Our analysis of data from the
U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics will
clearly establish that whether one
looks at education, income or any
other meaningful measure, almost
all the economic gains that blacks
have made in the last 30 years
have been lost in the Great Reces-
sion that started in December 2007
and in the anemic recovery that
has followed since June, 2009.
“This means that the size of the
black middle class is shrinking,
the fruits that come from being in
the black middle class are dwin-
dling, and the ladders of
opportunity for reaching the black
middle class are disappearing.”
That’s pretty strong language
from the four authors: Chanelle P.
Hardy, Valerie R. Wilson, Madura
Wijewardena and Garrick T.
Davis. But they provide strong
figures to buttress their case.
The Black median household
income in 2010 was $32,106.
That’s 30 percent less than the
comparable figure for Whites. In
today’s dollars, that’s where the
White median household income
stood in 1980.
Even with the tremendous
income gap, the Black median
household income increased by 32
percent between 1992 and 2000.
T HE C URRY
R EPORT
George E.
Curry
White income increased by 14
percent over that same time peri-
od.
The latest economic downturn
has eroded many of those gains.
“The Great Recession and the
recovery has led to a dramatic
widening of the gap between
white and black middle class
income households,” the report
stated. “Although both blacks and
whites suffered declining median
household income during and
since the recession, the decline for
blacks has been considerably
higher – between 2008 and 2010,
white median household income
fell by 2.9 percent while the black
median household income fell by
7.7 percent.”
A similar decline can be seen in
home ownership.
“Since the recovery, black home
ownership has been falling at just
under twice the rate of white home
ownership – from 2009 to 2011,
black home ownership declined by
1.4 percentage points while white
home ownership declined by 0.9
percentage points. This means that
almost all the gains in black home
ownership have been lost and now
we are at a point where there are
real reversals in black home own-
ership.”
Education, the ladder to upward
mobility, is also going in the
wrong direction.
“An especially troubling trend
can be observed by looking at the
fortunes of those with a 4-year
college degree,” the report
observed. “The most significant
impact of this trend has been on
black college graduates who saw
income distribution. And because
White household income is more
than 1.5 times Black income, a
White family must earn more than
African-Americans in order to be
considered middle class.
Even though Blacks still trail
Whites in income, there was no
significant Black middle class
before the modern Civil Rights
Movement.
“…The civil rights movement of
the last 50 years forced open the
door of full-fledged American
prosperity to all those who had
Since the recovery, black home
ownership has been falling at just
under twice the rate of white home
ownership
their unemployment rates sky-
rocket to an average of 7.1% in
2011.
“This led to an unprecedented
widening of the gap between black
and white college graduates –in
1972, the gap between the unem-
ployment rates of blacks and white
college graduates was 1.4 percent-
age points and in 2011 it had
increased to 3.2 percentage
points.”
Middle class can be defined gen-
erally as having income that
places one in the middle of overall
been barred from its many com-
forts in decades past, either
through economic, legislative, a
racial apartheid, or some institu-
tionalized combination of all of
the above,” the report said.
After the Civil Rights Move-
ment and affirmative action
opened the doors of opportunity,
they are now being slammed in
our face. The National Urban
League chapter on the Black mid-
dle class did not address the issue
of Black net worth, which has also
been pummeled.
The Economic Policy Institute,
analyzing data collected by the
Federal Reserve, found that in
2004, the median net worth of
White households was $134,280,
compared with $13,450 for Black
households. By 2009, the medium
net worth for White households
had declined by 24 percent to
$97,860. Over that same period,
the medium net worth for African-
American households had fallen
83 percent to $2,170.
Despite the Republican crusade
for smaller government, the
National Urban League report
argues that the federal government
must be an active partner if these
blows to the Black middle class
are to be reversed.
“Programs such as targeted job
training, Pell grants, small busi-
ness
lending,
pre-
and
post-purchase housing counseling,
and Medicare and Medicaid pro-
vide the foundation which makes
middle class life possible,” the
report stated. “These programs
should not, and must not be sacri-
ficed in the hyper-partisan debate
designed to produce political win-
ners and losers.”
George E. Curry, former editor-
in-chief of Emerge magazine and
the NNPA News Service, is editori-
al director of Heart & Soul
magazine. He is a keynote speaker,
moderator, and media coach.
Challenge of 2012: ‘Tanning’ of American Economy
I
n a recent article published by
the National Urban League,
“The State of Black America
2012—Tanning of America Makes
Growth, Prosperity, and Empow-
erment Easier,” Steve Stoute
comments on the fact that our cul-
ture “is the golden thread that
meshes together the exceptional
quality, ingenuity, creativity and
value of these products, (Apple,
Nike, Coca-Cola, and Jay-Z’s
music) that makes the American
Dream accessible all across the
globe. He speaks about the phe-
nomenon of “tanning” or “the
U.S. B LACK C HAMBER
Ron Busby
what they were missing. Broad-
band and technology could
actually help those who lack the
desire to be more interested in
education, technology, innova-
tion, or entrepreneurship.
Technology, as Steve explains in
his article, is something that “mil-
lennials,” or those born between
the years 1977 – 1997, understand
much better than those born
before this era…so, there-
in lies the problem. It is
mostly those born before
1977 who have difficulty
understanding the need
for digital equality.
Those who were born
when cell phones were
the exception rather than the rule,
and when spectrum was only
talked about when referring to the
colors of the rainbow, don’t quite
“get it” when it comes to under-
standing the importance of having
access to the internet.
The question of whether or not
broadband is necessary in today’s
marketplace, education system, or
job market, has long since been
answered. Opportunities abound
on the internet and innovation is
sparked. Creativity is sprouting
from elementary schools at star-
tling
rates
and
young
entrepreneurs are getting younger
and younger. Those who are tech-
nologically curious today are
becoming the inventors of tomor-
row. Those who have access to
broadband and the internet can
Beyond the Racial
Divide and Moving on
to the Digital Divide
mental complexion” of America.
In essence, Steve is talking
about the common experiences
and values that go beyond race or
even socio-economic lines. It is a
good metaphor and one in which
explains almost simplistically the
idea that though there may be real
differences in skin tone, our
desires and our abilities are only
limited to lack of education, lack
of resources, or lack of desire.
Two of these three things can be
controlled by those of us willing to
work hard to ensure there is equal-
ity in education and resources.
The third item—lack of desire,
could even be controlled to some
degree if we ensure the other two
items are in place. There are many
who may have the desire to learn,
or build, or do…. if they knew
forge ahead uninhibited by fears
of the unknown.
We must continue to encourage
innovation and creativity. We
must provide our schools and our
communities with the resources
they need to spur curiosity. We
must contribute to programs, such
as those that the National Urban
League is promoting. We must
continue to support these pro-
grams and learn more about them
in order to provide our children
more opportunities to become the
entrepreneurs, the scientists, the
teachers of tomorrow. But we
must encourage them today. And
we must provide them the
resources today.
Ron Busby is president of the
U.S. Black Chamber
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March 14, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 5