Have we really achieved racial equality?

In America, whites have 26 times the wealth of African-Americans. So says census data.

Not 26% more. Not twice as much. Twenty six times as much. Specifically, the median household wealth (net worth) for white, non-hispanic housholds in 2009 was $149,900, and the median household wealth for African-Americans was $5,677.

These numbers confirm just how hard the Great Recession has whacked minority households.

But there is a deeper issue. Can someone please explain to me how, in a country where we are told again and again that we are “all created equal,” after 150 years, one group ends up with 26 times more capital resources than the other?

MLK’s dream was that his four young children would “one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” What are we supposed to think – that one group has twenty six times as much character as another?

Have we really achieved racial equality?

When answering, please identify the state where you were born.

2012-01-18T13:42:50Z

@ Foofa, The stats aren't scewed by the top 1% or even the bottom 40 %. They are 'median' figures, not an 'average' - you know, the family that is exactly in the middle of the spectrum.

Mongo Khan2012-01-18T14:10:16Z

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I don't think MLK asked for equality but equal opportunity. That means an equal education to achieve goals,the opportunity to do a job there are qualified to do and live anywhere they can afford.
Maybe our biggest fault is that we don't expose the kids to the various opportunities that exist in the working world. Inner city kids only see people with limited skills around them. They don't know there is a larger world beyond the horizon. And they certainly don't think it there is a possibility that they can reach it. They need to learn how to dream.

Anonymous2012-01-18T13:31:57Z

Now tell me what the stats for Asians are in America, they're pretty close to whites. Going to rag on them too?

*Yeah I didn't think so. Let's see some sources and make sure Asians are in there. Asians are just as well off in this country as whites are. They earn it, we earn it. Certain others have the freedom to but don't, for certain reasons that have to do with natural ability not discrimination.

?2016-10-19T02:16:14Z

i'm from the large state of Texas! you're perplexed slightly, what King needed (and we do have now) is social equality, something is as much as each and each guy or woman to make it or no longer in this large u . s . a .. How do you clarify that some minorities earn above national averges?

Anonymous2012-01-18T15:11:11Z

No, people are still discriminated against to this day. Racism is has not gone away. Also, Sarah Palin is 100% smart. Is that statistic true too?

?2012-01-18T13:38:05Z

Equal rights yes but racial equality no.

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