“You drink too much coffee.” “You eat out too much.” “You shouldn't buy that fancy phone.” “You don’t know how to budget.” “That's why you don't have any money.” Maybe you’ve heard these reasons for why you’re struggling to get by. People of color hear them all the time. They are lies. Listen up. To understand this struggle in America, we have to look at the role of race in our economy. For people of color in the US, the root of
our financial insecurity stems from institutional racism and white supremacy that has existed
since the founding of this country. Let’s start with home ownership. Buying
a house is supposed to be the way middle class Americans build wealth. Of course, these days
many Americans are struggling to make this dream come true, and for people of color it
used to be practically impossible. And that was by design. By design. Starting in the 1930s, black people in this
country were systematically denied the opportunity to purchase homes because of a racist scheme
called redlining. Majority black and brown neighborhoods were literally colored in red,
and shut out of home loans. The past plagues us today: 60 percent of those redlined communities
remain low-income minority neighborhoods. You’ve heard of subprime mortgages, right?
Those products that wrecked the economy in 2008 and destroyed Black & Latino wealth?
Well, they were generated during the redlining era. Housing is just one bit of institutional racism
that hinders the ability of people of color to build wealth. That’s to say nothing of
slavery and Jim Crow laws, which led us to mass incarceration— but we’ll get to that
in a minute. Let me catch you up. So, acknowledging that
the past was rigged, we can better understand our present. And in the present, the racial
wealth gap is enormous. And when I say “wealth,” we’re not talking
about being rich. Wealth is what you own (your house, car, savings, or business), minus what you owe — credit card debt, student loan debt, fines, et cetera. Getting things you can own, like a house,
or something that grows in value over time, like education, is often a result of what
your parents are able to help you with. And in the case of many people of color, our parents
aren’t able to contribute much financially, if at all. Over generations, black and brown
families become shut out from acquiring the cornerstones of wealth. And that’s how we get situations like this
today: Listen to this. For every 100 dollars in white family wealth, black families hold just 5 dollars and 4 cents. Another one. Even when Black and Latinx households
earn a solidly middle-class income, they accrue just a fraction of the wealth of White households. Black and Latinx families headed by a college
graduate have less wealth than families headed by white high school dropouts. And this one is unreal. By the middle
of the century, Black and Latinx median household wealth will nearly be zero. Hopefully, you’re starting to understand
how shaming people — especially people of color — for a cup of coffee or a nice dinner
out is ludicrous. It’s time for a reckoning. But that is not
what is happening, policymakers and wealthy corporations are doubling down on inequality. Look no further than the 2017 Tax Cuts and
Jobs Act. According to one study: On average, White households received an estimated 2,020
dollars in cuts, while Latinx households received just 970 dollars, and Black households received
840 dollars. Shameful. It’s shameful, for example, that
while worker productivity is up, wages are not rising for Black and Latinx workers. And remember when I mentioned mass incarceration?
It is yet another profit-driven predatory system that strips savings and earnings from
people of color. We make up 67 percent of the prison population, despite only being
37 percent of the U.S. population. Our families, especially women, spend billions of dollars in unfair fines and fees that cause financial instability and, too often, multigenerational
poverty. Mass incarceration and detention determines both economic and political outcomes
for too many families of color. Policing the minute decisions about how people
of color spend their disposable income is a distraction. It’s a distraction from the
systems of injustice we have collectively and historically created and continue to perpetuate. You have the power to bring truth to light.
You know the real story, so write it, tell someone, tell us. We know that in order to
have survived in a country we’ve been told is not ours, people of color have been and
continue to be resilient, entrepreneurial, and deserving. Tell us your story of resilience, tell your
policymakers. Press candidates to tell you what they are doing to upend racial wealth
inequality and make it easier for you to pay that next bill, to afford healthcare and a
home, to send your kids to college, to save for retirement. Tell them you deserve no less
than a robust plan that rewrites our future stories. Briefly, how'd it feel to do a video with
us? It was great. This is such an important topic
that everyone needs to focus on. We just have to keep talking and telling the truth about
what’s happening. Well, education and truth-telling, particularly at this time in our nation’s history, could not be more important. Agreed. Agreed. What other lies are you sick
of hearing when it comes to this issue? Go ahead and let us know in the comments. And if you found this video informative, please also check out our video on Why We Need a Wealth Tax. Thank you for watching and please subscribe
to this channel for more videos like this one.
