Black History Month Special: The State of Black Wealth in America

Filed under: Black History Month For Black History Month, I thought it might be interesting to discuss the state of black wealth in America. African Americans have always lagged behind whites when it comes to wealth and income, but the gap in wealth is far more severe. While black family income averages roughly two-thirds that of whites, wealth levels are less than one-tenth that of white Americans. Additionally, African Americans make up a greater proportion of the nation's uninsured, with a rate that is roughly 80% higher than that of white Americans. There are similar variations in other measures of economic well-being, such as home ownership, business ownership, poverty, unemployment, etc. Here is one telling fact about the magnitude of black wealth vs. white wealth: the world's richest African American, Oprah Winfrey, has less in total wealth than Bill Gates earns in a single year. He could buy Oprah Winfrey's net worth two to three times per year if he wanted to do so with his earnings, and still leave all of his wealth intact. http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,entry&id=824589&pid=824588&uts=1264719032 http://cdn.channel.aol.com/cs_feed_v1_6/csfeedwrapper.swf Oprah's Makeup Looks January, 1998: As the decade continued, Oprah further softened her look, lightening up the lipstick and toning down the eye shadow and liner for a less dramatic, more natural appearance. Victor Malafronte, Getty Images BlackVoices.com Oprahs Makeup Looks January, 1986: Bright eyed and happy, the rising talk show star showed off some relatively sedate makeup at the 43rd annual Golden Globe Awards. Oprahs Makeup Looks October, 1987: Bring on the bad '80s makeup! Everything, from the color of Lady O's foundation to the up-to-her-brows dark eyeshadow to the shade of her red lipstick, is wrong, wrong, wrong! Would things get any better in the '90s? Oprahs Makeup Looks January, 1990: Not in 1990. Oprah was still piling on the dark eye shadow and slightly wrong lipstick colors. But maybe we should blame the era, not the media mogul? Oprahs Makeup Looks May, 1994: Bye, bye cat eyes and weird red lipstick! Along with a new hairdo and came a new beauty look -- Winfrey embraced neutral shades at the 21st annual Daytime Emmy Awards. Oprahs Makeup Looks January, 1998: As the decade continued, Oprah further softened her look, lightening up the lipstick and toning down the eye shadow and liner for a less dramatic, more natural appearance. Oprahs Makeup Looks November, 2002: The red lipsticks of the '80s and early '90s were definite beauty faux pas, but this berry red is a yes! It's crisp, clean and works perfectly with Winfrey's skin tone. Oprahs Makeup Looks October, 2004: Oprah upped the drama factor in '04 with out-to-there false lashes and copper lipstick to match her gown (and highlights). Ooh la la! Oprahs Makeup Looks December, 2005: Miss Winfrey wore a bit of theme makeup to the premiere of 'The Color Purple' on Broadway. Purple shades are some of her favorites. Oprahs Makeup Looks November, 2006: Pink lipstick can be fun and sexy, but paired with this mature hairdo and the pastel makeup, it might be having the opposite effect. Oprahs Makeup Looks December 2007: With a glossy brown lip, bronzy cheeks, and her trademark luscious lashes and dark-lined eyes, Oprah looked amazing in earth tones at the 'Great Debaters' premiere! Oprahs Makeup Looks What's most controversial is that there are some, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who attribute the wealth gap to financial illiteracy on the part of African Americans. This couldn't be further from the truth. The difference in family wealth can be more directly attributed to differences in family inheritance levels, which tends to be the dominant factor in the wealth levels of most Americans. African Americans have far less inherited wealth than white Americans primarily because our country spent over 400 years promoting and endorsing policies that kept African Americans from building wealth to pass on to their children. Slavery led to trillions in dollars in free labor being passed on to whites, while Jim Crow laws kept African Americans from pursuing lucrative careers or building strong businesses. Most significantly, African Americans were unable to accumulate wealth through land ownership, which is a tremendous driver of family wealth in America. If you walk down any street in Manhattan with $100 million dollar buildings left and right, almost none of those buildings are owned by black people, even though blacks were among the first economic and cultural contributors to New York City. The keys to closing the wealth gap must include a diligent effort made by our federal government to not only apologize for slavery, but also to use government resources to transfer wealth to the communities most affected. This can be done by equalizing the funding levels for inner city schools and creating community trusts that allow for economic development in areas most affected by the wealth gaps. At the same time, within black America, there must be an increased commitment to financial literacy and wealth building. Teach your children how to start a business and invest. Also teach them the value of OWNING SOMETHING. Ownership is the key to wealth: if you don't own anything, you don't have anything. Black history includes many chapters in which African Americans were able to create and maintain wealth despite dire circumstances. Madame CJ Walker, a child of former slaves, became the first female millionaire in America of any color through her own efforts in an extremely racist and sexist environment. Now that things have dramatically changed for the better, it is up to our community to make the most of every opportunity -- especially given how far we have come. Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce financial commentary delivered to your email, please click here.