Your assuming everyone was selling or using that's far from the truth, black home ownership was at far larger % then now. Black had better paying jobs, not everyone was on the streets

Blacks were struggling
Black family incomes grew during the 1980s, but they still fell well below Americans in general, Census figures released Friday show.A set of minority economic profiles released by the Census Bureau show that black households had a median income of $19,758 at the time of the 1990 census, up 84% from 1980.
Los Angeles Times - Page unavailable in your region
Your average person in the 80s was poor because the economy was shyt due to Reagan
The 80s and early 90s were not a good time.

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