The Black-White High School Graduation Gap Has Nearly Closed. The Income Gap Is as Big as Ever.

[No1]

Matthew Yglesias


Posted Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2013, at 10:06 AM

Tourists visit the the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Aug. 24, 2013. Can King's dream is being fulfilled in some ways, but not others.
Photo by Pete Marovich/Getty Images

To state the obvious, race relations in America are dramatically different today than they were 50 years ago. And this manifests itself in any number of concrete ways. One particularly dramatic way is the closing of the once-enormous gap in high school graduation rates (data via Pew), which have risen for both whites and blacks while growing more equal:

Unfortunately, the racial gap in median household income remains about as large as ever:

And since wealth is built up multigenerationally over time, the black-white gap in wealth remains absolutely enormous. Many middle-class white families—but very few middle-class black ones—still enjoy some wealth legacy from the New Deal and Fair Deal eras when affirmative action was white. Extensive government programs were created to bolster middle-class wealth and incomes, and black citizens were more or less excluded from participating in them.

 

[Mr. Somebody]

If the government was really concerned theyd have more transparency regarding pay of people that are or were in positions that are now filled by people of other races/nationalities to determine if the pay is truely equal. When two people of equal qualification have one individual who recieves less pay, its obvious something demonic is afoot that may need a third party to wave their finger at and say, be fair, friend.

 

[69 others]

that's good news but for the income gap to decrease (it would never be equal anytime soon though) the college and post grad graduation rate gap would have decrease also. a high school diploma doesn't count for much these days.

 

[Family Man]

Is this another article from CACs to pat themselves on the back?

 

[No1]

Is this another article from CACs to pat themselves on the back?

No it's to show that we have a problem that need to be addressed on the anniversary of MLK's speech seeing how his end game was economic empowerment. But of course Brown Ant would one star this. The same cat that just told me that Nas and Jay-Z have zero classic albums and that Eminem has more.

 

[Marciano]

No it's to show that we have a problem that need to be addressed on the anniversary of MLK's speech seeing how his end game was economic empowerment. But of course Brown Ant would one star this. The same cat that just told me that Nas and Jay-Z have zero classic albums and that Eminem has more.

But good article though & although yes, it's good news to hear the black/white high school grad gap is closing - the problem of wealth still needs to be addressed. We are still centuries behind but the opportunities are out there to start building generational wealth.

 

[88m3]

Is this another article from CACs to pat themselves on the back?

 

[Blackking]

eventually the wealth gap will be out fault... cac and cac institutions and cac economic policies will always be demonic - simply because that's their nature... overall we need to reinvest in ourselves.

 

[Robbie3000]

eventually the wealth gap will be out fault... cac and cac institutions and cac economic policies will always be demonic - simply because that's their nature... overall we need to reinvest in ourselves.

The phrasing made me

 

[Dusty Bake Activate]

This one of the reasons why when people like @theworldismine13 talk about the #1 problem facing black people is anti-academic culture it's simplistic and reductive to say the least.

 

[theworldismine13]

This one of the reasons why when people like @theworldismine13 talk about the #1 problem facing black people is anti-academic culture it's simplistic and reductive to say the least.

really, i would think those stats are evidence of the failure of affirmative action

and let me guess, racism is not simplistic and reductive?