Although many Americans are able to gain a piece—however small—of “the pie,” their ability to do so largely rests on the historical, racial economic exploitation of others, predominantly “minority” populations, who, no matter how hard they try, cannot find solid financial ground beneath their feet.

However, as Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro point out in “Getting Along,” this solid financial footing that many Americans enjoy does not consist of typical signifiers of economic status, such as one’s salary or wage.  Instead, it consists of “wealth.” Wealth can mean a number of things, including money that has been passed down through generations, which can be used to pay for a home, to start up a business, or to provide a quality education for one’s children. Although middle-class White communities are typically able to pass on some form of this wealth to their children, the accumulation of wealth in Black communities has been impeded by historic barriers, which have been constructed by both centuries of slavery, slavery’s aftermath, and the inherently–and persistently–racist structure of American society.

Of course, simply solving the wealth crisis in African American communities would not automatically catalyze a decline in the racist structure of American society.  Middle/upper class, predominantly white, communities will still attempt to hold on to their monopoly of “high” social status, and lower income white communities might maintain the notion that their whiteness constitutes a “psychological wage.” However, a solid economic footing, complete with access to wealth and assets, would certainly help the African American community confront—both psychologically and materially—the daily challenges of racism and, perhaps, in the long term, weaken America’s racial structure.

The racial wealth gap between Whites and African-Americans exists and persists for many different reasons. Through both subtle and obvious methods of discrimination, American society has provided, and is providing, more opportunities for the accumulation of wealth to Whites than Blacks, and this disparity of opportunities between Whites and Blacks is compounded by each generation, creating a cycle that keeps Blacks far from an ever-growing reservoir of White wealth. Even when whites and blacks are similar with regards to “identifiably important” economic factors, Blacks still confront a “$43,000 net worth handicap” (Oliver and Shapiro 525).

One reason for this disparity is U.S. government policies. During slavery, African Americans could not maintain any property, and even after the Civil War, Jim Crow laws and racist housing policies favored white home-buyers at the cost of severely limiting the possibility of home ownership among the Black population. And the U.S. tax code has continually favored those with assets—predominantly Whites—over those who are lacking in assets— predominantly Blacks. Even if an African-American family is approved for a mortgage, it is usually forced into paying outrageous interest rates due to the “riskiness” of the loan. And even if African Americans are able to pay off an expensive mortgage and keep their home, the value of homes in Black communities tend to decrease over time.  This almost always due to the placement of waste treatment facilities, highways, and garbage dumps near–and through–Black communities, as well as a lack of attention from city services such as police, fire departments, and utility companies.

Whereas White parents are sometimes able to leave mortgage-free, high-value homes to their children, Black parents are often forced to pass on expensive mortgages to their children, once again limiting the ability of future generations to accumulate assets. Oliver and Shapiro argue, and I strongly agree, that these racist policies were not simply the consequences of capitalism and the free market, nor were they the mistakes of ignorant policy makers, but, instead, were—and are—the products of a predominantly wealthy White elite political class who were—and are—protecting their own political and economic interests at the cost of further driving down the wedge between Black’s and White’s access to wealth.

The dawn of the information age and the rise of advanced technology only makes this wealth disparity more dangerous to the Black population. While white families are often able to provide their children with the means of building an electronic literacy, or a familiarity with computers and the new media (websites, e-business, digital design, online advertising, computer programming, advanced communication technology, etc.), Black families, without appropriate assets, are often unable to provide their children with necessary learning tools. And this problem goes much extends beyond the family. I’ve recently read a book about electronic literacy by Gail Hawisher, an English professor the University of Illinois, which argues that white neighborhoods are more likely than black neighborhoods to have libraries and schools that not only provide free access to computers and technological resources, but also–and more importantly–provide teachers and tutors who can train young students in the use of new technologies.

Growing up in a nation that will rely more and more on an electronically literate workforce, young Black students who do not have access to training opportunities will be significantly at a loss when they attempt to obtain new technology-based jobs, which can provide access to new sources of wealth. Of course, this is just one sector of the economy that bolsters the argument that current welfare, housing, and minimum wage policies are not significantly improving Blacks’ present or future access to wealth.

The historical limitations placed on Blacks’ ability to gain wealth represent challenges that Black leaders and sympathetic, knowledgeable White leaders will need to address as soon as possible. Both Blacks and Whites need to work at not only helping black business men and women establish thriving businesses amidst the jungle of white-controlled American/global corporations, but also providing young African Americans with the tools that they will need to succeed in the future.

I might be a bit optimistic, but I believe that the new media, and the new technologies that produce the new media, can be excellent avenues of success for the next generations of African Americans–but this hinges on whether or not appropriate training and resources are provided.

This seems to be the crux of the issue: more resources—and a large variety of resources—need to be allocated to lower class and Black communities in order to confront the structural exclusion of the poor and Blacks from the mainstream economy. Although the rhetoric of reparations might be too discomforting for some White Americans to swallow, I tend to believe that once White Americans are convinced that the economic well-being of the nation is reliant on the inclusion of everyone, including those who have been historically exploited, in the new economy, they will be more willing to support initiatives that allow the lower classes and the Black community—as well as other minority communities—to accumulate wealth. Indeed, the consequences of the historical exclusion of Blacks from wealth will continue to affect the majority of Americans (i.e., the current financial crisis), except, perhaps, those elites who have enough wealth to support the next five generations of their families (and obtain golden lifeboats in the event of a collapse of the stockmarket).

In order to avoid the devastating consequences of a “Swiss cheese” economy, in which growing pockets of poverty exist alongside the growing wealth of the dominant class, Blacks of all economic and social classes will need to work together to present their struggles to a white community that will be, hopefully, ready not only to listen to the concerns of the Black community, but also willing to enact radical solutions.

Works Cited

Oliver, M.L., Shapiro, T.M. “Getting Along: Renewing America’s Commitment to Racial Justic”