Articles

Thank you for inviting me to join you today.

I especially want to thank Dr. Rockeymore and her team for bringing more attention to this issue.

We often talk about poverty and income inequality, but we rarely talk about the long-term consequences of these issues and how they contribute to the generational issues of poverty in communities of color.

I'm sure you’ve heard these statistics already, but it is estimated that the median wealth of a white American household is twenty times that of an African-American household and eighteen times that of a Hispanic household.

For every dollar of net worth held by a white American, a person of color typically has around five cents.

These numbers are quite startling and disheartening.

Communities of color lag behind in every category of wealth-building, including liquid wealth, asset diversity, home ownership and equity, and total net worth.

It is estimated that the majority of African Americans and Latinos have no net worth at all.

Some would say that these trends are due to poor decision-making within these communities.

However, history shows that for decades, communities of color were intentionally prevented from economic opportunities to acquire wealth through discriminatory practices and policies.

These policies included the appropriation of Native American owned land; the sanctioning of unpaid labor through slavery for people of African descent; the exclusion of Asians from business ownership; and the persistent denial of citizenship to Latinos.

And today, these practices continue.

Cases of predatory lending that led to the Great Recession, employment and housing discrimination, and differences in compensation due to race and gender keep communities of color from accessing the same opportunities to build and sustain wealth as our white counterparts.

The consequences of these policies and harmful practices continue to be felt by generations of Americans.

Millions of people and their families begin building their adult lives multiple steps behind. 

And though wealth-building may appear to be an issue that solely affects individuals and families, there are adverse impacts on the entire U.S. economy.

By 2050, people of color are expected to be the majority of the U.S. population.

If the majority of our nation has been prevented from full economic participation, or is living in poverty with no liquid assets, who will be able to purchase goods or successfully launch new businesses?

If the fastest growing communities in our country are not afforded the same economic and educational opportunities to participate in our national economy, how will we continue to compete in the world?

These are questions we must ask ourselves.

If we don’t work to close the racial wealth gap it will ultimately lead to the American economic gap, causing the U.S. economy to fall behind.

The Congressional Black Caucus has proposed a number of targeted strategies to help close the racial wealth gap, including significant investments that will strengthen our public education system and keep Pell Grants available for students who want to pursue higher education.

Another policy we’ve proposed is the 10-20-30 plan that targets at least 10 percent of select public resources to communities where 20 percent or more of the population has lived below the poverty line for the last 30 years.

We also are extremely vocal in protecting anti-poverty programs like SNAP and HeadStart that in addition to keep people from falling deeper into poverty have proven long-term positive outcomes for individuals and families including their health and educational success.

Programs like these work in keeping the foundation on which people can build wealth, strong and secure.

If the goal is to truly keep America on the path to prosperity; we must ensure all individuals have the opportunities to achieve their version of the American Dream.

And this begins with having frank conversations about where we are as a nation and how we overcome these obstacles together.

This dream cannot remain reserved for a select few.

Having access to an equitable and quality education; access to capital for minority business; and a pathway to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants are among the ways we can reverse these negative trends and close the wealth gap in America.

This is how we ensure that the global standard set by the American promise remains alive and that each person’s ability to achieve the American Dream remains our reality.

Thank you all again for having me, and enjoy the rest of the conference.