{"id":5085,"date":"2021-05-01T15:25:29","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T15:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5085"},"modified":"2021-05-01T15:25:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-01T15:25:29","slug":"heres-what-the-black-tax-does-to-so-many-families-including-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=5085","title":{"rendered":"Here\u2019s what the \u201cBlack tax\u201d does to so many families \u2014 including mine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“The median Black household<\/a> has a net worth of only $24,100, a fraction of the $188,200 in net worth the median white household has, 2019 Federal Reserve data shows.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And these numbers don\u2019t always show the nuance of financial instability for many Black families. A quarter of Black households have zero or negative net worth, compared with a tenth of white families, according to the Economic Policy Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reasons for the wealth gap are complicated and multi-layered, with racism, historical injustices, structural inequality, and educational disparities all playing a huge role. So do career choices, marriage status, and inheritance levels<\/a> for Black people, which are starkly lower than for white people. The practice of redlining, for example, under which the government would not guarantee loans for Black Americans who were trying to purchase homes, as well as the effect of mass incarceration on Black representation in the workforce, are just a couple of examples of how African Americans are systematically prevented from building wealth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consequently, here\u2019s the harsh reality about being Black in America: The deck is often so stacked against you that the weight of it all can feel overwhelming \u2014 no matter your income, your net worth, or how much you\u2019ve achieved. For African Americans like me, systemic inequities and generations of poverty can make it seem like whatever you\u2019ve done is never enough, especially when you know you\u2019ll have to help support relatives or make contingency plans for any number of scenarios out of your control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that for those of us able to generate wealth and reach a level of comfort, we are often also financially supporting family members or paying down debt. We simply don\u2019t have that generational wealth that so many white families have to fall back on and start out their adult lives with. Even two people earning the same income can be looking at totally different financial situations based on their race and class: One could be putting money into savings or investing, while the other might be using that same income to pay a family member\u2019s rent or help support an aging parent\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know that people like my mother don\u2019t have any real safety net other than relatives. There\u2019s no inheritance coming. As a result, for far too many Black people, low income and low wealth translate into a lifetime of scraping by.”
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Among Black Americans, it\u2019s not uncommon for those who can to help family members financially: Some call it the \u201cBlack tax,\u201d<\/a> a term commonly used in South Africa that refers to the obligations of first-in-the-family college graduates, professionals, or others who \u201cmake it\u201d to assist their family members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m happy to help out my mother by covering her needs when she\u2019s short on cash. But it can be an emotional experience for her to even ask”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.vox.com\/the-highlight\/22323477\/personal-finance-black-tax-racial-wealth-gap<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The median Black household has a net worth of only $24,100, a fraction of the $188,200 in net worth the median white household has, 2019 Federal Reserve data shows.
\nAnd these numbers don\u2019t always show the nuance of financial instability for many Black families. A quarter of Black households have zero or negative net worth, compared with a tenth of white families, according to the Economic Policy Institute.<\/p>\n

The reasons for the wealth gap are complicated and multi-layered, with racism, historical injustices, structural inequality, and educational disparities all playing a huge role. So do career choices, marriage status, and inheritance levels for Black people, which are starkly lower than for white people. The practice of redlining, for example, under which the government would not guarantee loans for Black Americans who were trying to purchase homes, as well as the effect of mass incarceration on Black representation in the workforce, are just a couple of examples of how African Americans are systematically prevented from building wealth.<\/p>\n

Consequently, here\u2019s the harsh reality about being Black in America: The deck is often so stacked against you that the weight of it all can feel overwhelming \u2014 no matter your income, your net worth, or how much you\u2019ve achieved. For African Americans like me, systemic inequities and generations of poverty can make it seem like whatever you\u2019ve done is never enough, especially when you know you\u2019ll have to help support relatives or make contingency plans for any number of scenarios out of your control.<\/p>\n

The reality is that for those of us able to generate wealth and reach a level of comfort, we are often also financially supporting family members or paying down debt. We simply don\u2019t have that generational wealth that so many white families have to fall back on and start out their adult lives with. Even two people earning the same income can be looking at totally different financial situations based on their race and class: One could be putting money into savings or investing, while the other might be using that same income to pay a family member\u2019s rent or help support an aging parent\u2019s retirement.<\/p>\n

I know that people like my mother don\u2019t have any real safety net other than relatives. There\u2019s no inheritance coming. As a result, for far too many Black people, low income and low wealth translate into a lifetime of scraping by.”<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“Among Black Americans, it\u2019s not uncommon for those who can to help family members financially: Some call it the \u201cBlack tax,\u201d a term commonly used in South Africa that refers to the obligations of first-in-the-family college graduates, professionals, or others who \u201cmake it\u201d to assist their family members.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m happy to help out my mother by covering her needs when she\u2019s short on cash. But it can be an emotional experience for her to even ask”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[56,366,363,642,1277],"class_list":["post-5085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-share","tag-black","tag-income","tag-inequality","tag-race","tag-wealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5086,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5085\/revisions\/5086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}