I read an article a few days ago which explained the chasm between white wealth and black wealth in the United States. The wealth gap is the same as it was 50 years ago. For every $100 of wealth gained by white families, black families gain about $5 in wealth. This disparity in wealth is dreafully unacceptable. I laughed out loud in disbelief as I read the statistic. This statistic is cruelly ironic. As America continues to believe in a narrowing of income disparity, the reality is antithetical. The American belief in racial progress is a belief measured in feelings not dollars. While black people continue to struggle to exist in this country, white America feels like progress is being made.
Subsidies. Numerous industries are subsidized by the government. Farmers are one of the more famous group for their government subsidies. Corporations use lobbyists to exchange money and determine legislation in an act of legal bribery. The government invests in these industries for the good of our domestic and global economy. With every county which fawns over businesses, wining and dining them to build a plant in their city, the black community, numb from repeated disappointments, simply shakes their heads and gets back to work. Can you imagine how frustrating it is to work multiple jobs and barely have the ability to cover basic living expenses? Meanwhile the taxes you paid to your elected officials dispense millions and billions of dollars in exclusive private enterprise and military adventures. Our government reluctantly covers children's healthcare, but our government willingly spends millions on new stadiums!? Why?
Return on Investment. Black people are literally viewed as a bad investment. I have no reason to believe anything different. Welfare, the most iconic government subsidy, is aid. Aid is given freely to help those in need to survive, never for them to thrive, and is rarely expected to be repaid. An investment is expected to yield a return. We are citizens of a government that does not see us as worth their time or money, the two components of investment. Programs which are critical in building our children and investing in our communities like: headstart, before and after-school programs, and early literacy programs are the first items cut in times of alleged financial constraint. It is not hard to imagine the undercurrent of hopelessness and futitility which nestles in our thoughts, actions, and choices. For generations the black community beleives, through repeated observations and personal experience, the government sworn to protect and help us, has no significant interest in improving our lives. It is clearly evident that the Federal government's money is not with us, so their heart remains absent, like so many of our fathers.
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