May
25
Written by:
Marlon Aldridge, Sr.
5/25/2010 4:59 PM
The Wealth and Health Divide in America
By Marlon R. Aldridge, Sr.
Although Blacks have more education and more income than they did 40 years ago, they have not closed the wealth gap and the health disparities gap with Whites.
Black leaders in conjunction with governments and big corporations have made decent gains in education and jobs for Blacks. But what about other important social measures like wealth and health?
What about wealth in America:
In 2007, the average white household had 15 times as much total wealth as the average Black [household]. If we exclude home equity from the calculations and consider only financial wealth, the [ratio is] in the neighborhood of 100:1. Extrapolating from these figures, we see that 70% of white families' wealth is in the form of their principal residence; for Blacks…95%.1 Therefore, they have far more wealth accessible to them to affect positive change in their lives.
Said another way, Blacks had 6.7% of the wealth that Whites had when we included home value and 1% when homes weren’t included. This was no better than the less than 1% comparative wealth that Blacks had during reconstruction, which started 145 years earlier. The wealth gap is clearly persistent and has not declined with time.
What about income:
In 1967, the median White household earned $7,449 while Black households earned $4,325 or 72% less. Forty years later in 2007, the median White household earned $52,115 while the average Black household earned $33,916 or 54% less. Yes, we have closed the gap in this area, but it still persists.
Keep in mind that during the same period, the number of Black households increased 154% while the number of White households increased 76%.2 (See my article, Commentary on Abortion: Black Abortions in Particular, to see how the number of Black households has been reduced since 1973. The implications are far greater than a woman’s right to choose.)
What about educational attainment:
In March 1970, 36.1% of Blacks had a high school diploma while 6.1% had four or more years of college. By contrast, 57.4% of Whites had a high school diploma while 11.6% had four or more years of college. In March 2007, these attainment levels were 82.8% and 18.7%, respectively, for Blacks and 90.6% and 31.8%, respectively, for Whites.3 Blacks closed the gap in both areas, but Whites still maintain leads in each.
What about health:
By health we refer to mortality rates. In this area, Blacks have not closed the gap with Whites during a forty year period: 1960 to 2000. In fact, the Black-White infant mortality rate gap has increased during this period as well as the Black-White mortality rate gap for men aged 45-64.4 Even though all groups are living longer, we have not been able to decrease the health disparity gap. However, Black women have closed the gap some with White women. See Satcher et al. (2005) for a more detailed discussion of this topic.
Conclusion
We have highlighted the gains that Black leaders in conjunction with governments and big corporations have made on behalf of Blacks in terms of educational attainment and household income. All parties involved benefit by working together in these areas.
Corporations benefit because of the additional income and wealth that they generate from Blacks. Governments benefit because of perceived egalitarian efforts on behalf all its citizens. Blacks benefit as well because of their increased spending power and standard of living.
However, where are the gains in wealth and health for Blacks?
Wealth has far more benefit than income from the standpoint that we can use it to control or influence both governments and corporations (e.g., “through donations to political parties, payments to lobbyists, and grants to experts who are employed to think up new policies beneficial to [us]; or through stock ownership, [which] can be used to control corporations”).1
Good health is also a highly-valued social goal. Many of us cherish it. Both wealth and health are associated with power.1 Is it a coincidence that Blacks have less of these two power indicators than do whites? Why is it that we are able to make gains in education and jobs but not in these two areas?
Evidently, Black leaders, governments, and corporations place little value on Black power.
References
2. U.S. Census Bureau. Race and Hispanic Origin of Householder—Households by Median and Mean Income: 1967 to 2007. Retrieved May 25, 2010,
4 comment(s) so far...
Peace and great post for sure. The interesting thing about this is how much of our money
is wasted on things that are bad for our health as a people.
But what about this idea ?
Is this time for us to create our currency and redefine the value system that we live under.
It would help us in the future and take us to whole different level.
By Peter D. Slaughter on
5/25/2010 6:30 PM
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Peter,
What do you mean by "create our own currency"?
I like your idea about "redefining the value system that we live under" because it involves creative mental processes. We certainly need more creative activity in our communities.
By Marlon on
5/25/2010 9:31 PM
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Peace and comtinued good will.
I beieve these disparities because all for blacks in america are on a very slow "catch-up trend. Gains in other areas will continue to precede gain in wealth and health because this is an area that can be ignored or placed in a lower priority status. Gains in health come with access to affordable health care. Blacks also have historical reasons not to trust the health care professionals. It would be interesting to compare the health of blacks among the jobs that provide ample access to healthcare as an employment benefit vs the level of health among blacks living in "right-to work" states where unions have not historically insisted on health benefits for contracts.
By msoul06510 on
5/26/2010 7:26 AM
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well I think this blog is a good start.
By sampson on
5/28/2010 1:05 PM
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