Racial Disparity Monetary Issues
The data presented here is for the United States as a whole. Of course, the data will differ for different geographic areas.
One should keep in mind that statistics are not meant to be precise but do provide a good picture of what probably is going on, what needs to be celebrated, and what needs stronger more focused attention. Also, the data is constantly being fine tuned at various sources and different sources use different statistical methods. Therefore, the data may not be exactly the same across platforms/sources; however, they should approximate and do provide awareness as to proportionality/partiality issues.
Let me be clear that though I am naturally concerned with the inequity and injustice toward Black Americans of which I am one, I am also concerned with inequity and injustice toward anyone of any race and ethnicity including oppressed whites.
I do not consider any race or skin color superior to others in any way. God made us all and we are all beautiful and precious in his sight. He made the human body to take on different skin colors just as he made the flowers to do so. We should not act like such differences do not exist. We should celebrate and honor the differences where appropriate. We should never seek to harm any person or group of persons based on such differences.
Let none seek or hope for others to be harmed or held guilty now or in the future for what their ancestors may or may not have done to our ancestors.
Foundationally, no matter what others do or fail to do, ultimately each individual is responsible for taking the necessary action to ensure success in both this life and after death and to take such actions without causing harm to others. We owe our best effort not only to ourselves but also to our God, our family, our racial community, our community in general, and our nation.
Yet, Jesus words in Matthew 22:34-40 regarding love thy neighbor as thyself and his words in Matthew 25:40 concerning what we do for the least of these we do for Jesus all still apply. Therefore, though most of us, white and black and others are doing well, we ought not be so selfish as to not be concerned for those who are not doing so well whether their fault or not. For we all have had a helping hand whether years far in the past by our ancestors, recent past, and/or now.
The lingering effect of slavery and Jim Crow and similar historical government and society supported actions affect the present conditions of blacks. However, it is abundantly clear that blacks have much internal self-examination to do. We must not wait or depend on other communities to correct those things that we can do ourselves.
Black churches must take on a more prominent role in producing attitudinal changes in our community. Yet, also under the love thy neighbor as thyself principle, it is abundantly clear that the white community have an obligation to help blacks overcome the effect of oppressive conditions of yesteryear and ensure any racism is immediately strongly rebuked and eliminated today.
White churches must take on a more prominent role in producing attitudinal changes in the white community towards helping blacks to overcome conditions caused by historical government and society supported slavery and racism. Certainly such help can be done without causing any harm to whites of today.
Though the above calls for greater emphasis focused on Blacks, whatever is done should also apply to optimizing equity for all races and ethnicities including Hispanics and whites who are oppressed by classism. Indeed, classism is a greater problem in modern times than racism even though racism is a major cause for classism for many.
Census Bureau data show that for 2022 overall population rates for top population groups are as follows:
Whites: 66%
Blacks: 12%
Asian: 6%
American Indian (Native Americans) or Alaska Native: 1%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: Less than 1%
Hispanic: 19%
Census Bureau data show that for 2022 poverty rates for these groups are:
Whites: 10.1%
Blacks: 21.5%
Asian: 10.1%
American Indian (Native Americans) or Alaska Native: 22.6%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: 17.0%
Hispanic: 17.2%
The Average Per Capita or Per Person income rates in rounded dollars for 2022 are as follows:
All Races: $41K
Whites: $46K
Blacks: $29K
Asians: $51K
American Indian (Native Americans) or Alaska Native: $25K
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: $31K
Hispanic: $26K
Median or Midpoint Household income rates for 2022 are:
All Races: $75K
Whites: $80K
Blacks: $51K
Asians: $108K
American Indian (Native Americans) or Alaska Native: $56K
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: $77K
Hispanic: $65K
For food stamps in 2022, 12% of the national households received food stamps. Of those receiving food stamps 52% were white households, 26% were black households and 22% were Hispanic households.
Marriage rates are 52% of whites were married, 30% of blacks, and 43% of Hispanics were married in 2022. As to the never married, 29% of whites had never married, 50% of blacks, and 43% of Hispanics had never married.
As to single mother births, 25% were white, 61% was black, and 40% were Hispanic.
According to Pew Research the percentage of Americans who say they are Christian went from about 90% in 1972 to about 63% in 2017. Given that Americans is still predominantly Christian by identification, it is alarming that the marriage rates and related single mother rates are as they are considering what the Bible says about marriage and sexual morality. Though the marriage rate is low and single mother birth rate is high relative to whites, the white and Hispanic rates are still lower for marriage and higher for birth than should be acceptable in a prominently Christian population.
When one considers the wealth gaps as illustrated by the above numbers and even more prominently concerning wealth distribution, assets ownership, and unsecured debt in other charts, there is a clear failure of American society with respect to policies that demonstrate love for neighbor as thyself.
Progress has been made and is still being made yet, yet rate of progress is much too slow.
A major problem is illustrated by the Distribution of Household Wealth chart.
Below generated by my App for Systemic Partiality Assessment using data from Census Bureau API
Census Bureau Population/Poverty Rates for 2022:
Census Bureau Income Rates for 2022:
Census Bureau Food Stamps Rates for 2022:
Census Bureau Marriage Rates for 2022:
Census Bureau Birth Rates for 2022:
Below taken from Census Bureau Report:
Below taken from Census Bureau Report:
Note on the Household Distribution of Wealth Table Above:
The honest would admit that the attached chart depicts the root of the conflict that existed in the 2024 election and the uneasiness among some that yet exists with respect to racism, whether just perceived, or actual.
Truth is if there was greater equity more spiritually mature Black folks would be Republican.
But financial issues are major bottlenecks to obtaining greater spiritual unity among Christians across races.
Blacks believe that Republicans are not doing enough to help resolve the imbalance.
Republicans believe Blacks are not doing enough to help resolve the imbalance ourselves.
The truth is white and black, democrat and republican, are not doing enough to help resolve the imbalance.
Let us not hold people alive today guilty of what their ancestors may or may not have done.
Let us hold all regardless of skin color responsible to help correct injustices of the past and present.
Let us all do more for ourselves no matter the skin color; let us all do what we can to help others no matter the skin color.
How about we all better live out Jesus words about loving thy neighbor as we love ourselves and forgiving one another rather than looking at one another as guilty (Matthew 22:34-40; Matthew 6:14-15; Matthew 25:40).
Truth is Blacks are not less spiritual/moral than whites.
Truth is most Whites alive today even those in power have no interest in oppressing Blacks alive today.
And let us not forget about the many Whites people who are among the have nots though proportionally Blacks have the greater imbalance.
And let us not forget about the many Hispanics that span the Whites and Blacks populations who are among the have nots.
And let us not forget about the many of other races and ethnicities who are among the have nots though their population is relative small yet they are important.
Truth is resolving the inequity issue for Blacks will also go a long ways to resolving it for all others.
And the observation that the poor will be with us always has nothing to do with the issue of inequity.
Reference:
How U.S. religious composition has changed in recent decades | Pew Research Center
Percentage-of-births-to-unmarried-women
