By the Numbers: Blacks Still Lag Behind Whites

by James Parks
AFL-CIO Weblog

The pictures from New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina, graphically showed the gaping hole between the haves and the have-nots in this country, especially those have-nots who are African American.

Now the newly released State of Black America 2006: The Opportunity Compact produced by the National Urban League tells the story in stark numbers:

The median net worth of the average black family ($6,166) is less than one-tenth of that of the average white family ($67,000). The gap is due largely to the difference in home ownership and income. African Americans own 50 percent of their homes while whites own more than 70 percent. Blacks also are denied mortgages at a higher rate than similarly qualified whites.

The black unemployment rate is twice as high as it is for whites.

Blacks are four times more likely to depend on public transportation systems than whites.

Blacks have less access to health care and a far lower rate of health insurance coverage than whites.

Black males are more likely to get longer sentences than white males for convictions for the same crime.

Unfortunately, the initial flurry of concern and attention to poverty and injustice [after Katrina] has given way to the status quo of neglect, domestic budget cuts, insensitivity and short-sighted policy priorities, said Marc Morial, president of the Urban League and former mayor of New Orleans.

The report, issued annually, uses an equality index that measures disparities between African Americans and whites in economics, education, health, social justice and civic engagement. A rating below 1.0 means blacks are worse off than whites and above 1.0 means they are better off than whites. Overall, the index this year is 0.73, the same as last year, meaning blacks made no economic progress compared with whites in 2005.

But the report notes its possible to close the equality gap and recommends many measures strongly advocated by the union movement. Among them: Increasing the minimum wage and redirecting money that’s now funneled into tax cuts for the wealthy into a new Child Poverty Elimination Fund universal affordable health care.

Such programs would benefit not just the poor but all Americans, Morial said: Poverty, the racial divide, and social injustice do not impact only those who suffer most visibly; they tear apart the fabric of our nation in ways that damage and diminish us all. Alleviating poverty and injustice is a responsibility we must never forget.