Support Drowning in Poverty GUEST COLUMN: Phillip Jackson


July, 24, 2006

A recent report by the Heartland Alliance confirms what much of black
America already knows: Black America is in serious trouble economically, and
many black people are living in "deep poverty."

Black people in America are not just poor by American standards; many of us
are third-world poor.

While some economists praise the American economy with talk of low
unemployment, record housing starts and a booming gross national product,
none of this tells the real story of a quickly declining black economy
within America. For instance, 30 percent of black Americans in Illinois live
in poverty compared with only 8 percent of whites.

According to the Children's Defense Fund, nearly 1 million black children in
the United States are living in extreme poverty. With the official national
unemployment rate at 4.4 percent, the official unemployment rate for blacks
is 10 percent. Of course, the official unemployment rate does not include
people who have given up looking for work and those who are underemployed.
In 2003 in New York City, 48.2 percent of black men ages 16 to 64 were
officially unemployed!

As American cities become more expensive to live in, black people, with our
declining wealth, are forced by economics to leave these cities. Although
things might be good economically in America, the majority of black people
are living through their worst economic depression since slavery.

Ironically, even as black people earn more money in the United States, the
wealth gap between blacks and whites grows dramatically. The indexes that
catalogue the misery in the black community -- poor and useless educational
preparation, mass unemployment, low-quality housing stock, disintegrating
communities, and failing families -- are rising. According to a 2004 study
by the Pew Hispanic Trust, between 1996 and 2002, the median net worth of
blacks dropped by 16 percent.

Black net worth declined to a paltry $5,998 per household, while the net
worth for white households grew by 17 percent during the same period to
$88,651. Twenty percent of black median net worth was in cash, approximately
$1,200, with the balance comprised of home equity.

"Black families lost 25 percent of their wealth during the jobless recovery
from the recent recession," said Thomas Shapiro, a Brandeis University
professor of law and social policy.

This means that more black people are struggling in 2006 with such basic
conditions as securing employment, paying rent or a mortgage, paying
utilities and insurance, obtaining affordable health coverage and buying
food.

Shapiro also stated that only 26 percent of black families could survive
more than three months after a major income interruption. The other 74
percent would be forced to seek government assistance, dip deep into
savings, sell off assets, relocate with a friend or relative, file
bankruptcy or become homeless.

In this economic depression, college is an unaffordable luxury for many
black people. Higher education, once the reliable key to moving from
low-income to middle-income status, is no longer an option. The portals that
lead away from poverty, crime and despair are closing or have already
closed. Generational poverty is inextricably intertwined with race. Hope for
breaking the poverty cycle diminishes and another generation of the
impoverished is born. Many blacks in America are slipping from poverty to
deep poverty into a third-world status.

We as black American families cannot wait for the government to save us.
Annually, black Americans generate about $700 billion within the U.S.
economy. However, a 2005 report by the Target Market Group shows that we
don't use our dollars wisely to improve our plight in America. For example,
in 2004, we had collective purchases that included $22 billion for clothes,
$10.7 billion for furniture, $28.7 billion for cars, $14 billion for phone
service, $3.7 billion for consumer electronics (not computers) and $2.3
billion on alcoholic beverages.

Unfortunately, the only area where we showed restraint in our spending was
on books, where we spent only $257 million, down from $303 million in 2002.
We spent more on our fingernails and our hair, $6.3 billion on personal
care, than on books and reading materials.

We must take control of our economic destinies to improve black personal
finances, our family wealth and our community economies, and to help lift
many blacks out of deep poverty.


TEN KEY SOLUTIONS FOR BLACK ECONOMIC WELL-BEING:

1. Start your own business. By starting your own business, you can hire
family, friends, and community members.
2. Get as much education as you can.
3. Stop renting an apartment. Save enough money to make a down payment on a
house. Then buy a house.
4. Open savings accounts for your children, teach your children the value of
money and take personal finance classes.
5. First, invest your money and your time in your skills, your knowledge
base and your self-improvement. Second, learn how to let big companies work
for you rather than you only working for them through stock ownership. And
third, invest your money in the U.S. and global stock markets.
6. Manage your credit carefully and avoid unnecessary debt.
7. Two-person headed households are more viable economically. Marriage can
be an economic advantage when both parties are aligned on financial
priorities and fiscal realities.
8. Create a living strategy that includes good nutrition, plenty of exercise
and proper rest so that you can share your good fortune in a long.
9. Tithe. Give to your church or to a social cause.
10. Create a will to pass on your accumulated wealth.


Phillip Jackson is executive director of The Black Star Project in Chicago.
Reach him by telephone at 312/842-3527; or by e-mail at
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Support The Black Star Project
Please consider becoming a member of The Black Star Project. We need your
support to implement systemic solutions to these problems. Please visit our
website or call us today for more information about membership and how you
can get involved.

www.blackstarproject.org

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