User:EmanuelWilliams/Reparations for slavery

Understanding the economic inequality in this country
Throughout the history of this country, many infrastructures that are still standing today were built by slaves. With the ending of slavery many African Americans had nothing, while slave owners and others who participated in the trading of humans received all of the profits and land, while slaves weren't allowed to get an education or purchase property. After African Americans were thrown into a predominately white society, it was difficult for them to grow economically; African Americans had to adapt and overcome institutional discrimination and unequal access to loans, jobs, and education. Slavery was the most extreme form of institutional racism in this country, and it didn't only deny African Americans the right to freedom, but also kept them from receiving appropriate compensation for their free labor that ultimately improved and shaped the economic future of the United States, and the ability to have equal rights in economic institutions such as purchasing homes, and equal access to financial institutions, such as taking out loans. The outlawing of slavery did not rectify these economic opportunities, Institutional policies were set in place to stop the accumulation of black wealth throughout history, such as racial segregation, mortgage discrimination, and redlining, all of which thwarted black wealth accumulation around all of the United States. The main contributing factors to this continuing wealth gap between African Americans and whites is homeownership, household income, unemployment, financial support and inheritance. By looking at these driving factors you are able to see how similar accomplishments grow wealth differently for each race, and you can see how even after the abolishment of Slavery, The United States and institutions within the country were still able to openly discriminate against African American "equal" access to financial instruments that could help with the economic growth of African American families in this country. to and for each category Whites are well ahead of any race.

Home Equity
The number of years families owned their homes was the larges predictor of the gap in wealth growth by race. Residential segregation by government design has a long legacy in this country and underpins many of the challenges African-American families face in purchasing homes and increasing equity, all of which drives this wealth gap even further. Due to historic differences in access to credit from financial institutions, typically lower incomes, and factors such as residential segregation and banking discrimination, the homeownership rate for white families is 28.4 percent higher than the homeownership rate for black families. This is just one of the many reasons why home equity rises at such a higher rates for whites than African Americans.

Income and Employment
Income is a major source of wealth accumulation for most families in the United States. Income gains for whites and African Americans have a very different affect on there wealth accumulation. According to the study done by the The Institute on Assets and Social Policy where they track the dollar increase in average income over a twenty five year period, it is able to show throughout the time frame of the study whites added $5.19 to their average income, while the same income gain only added 69 cents of wealth for African American households. This substantial difference in wealth accumulation from similar income gains between African Americans and whites is caused by many factors such as discrimination in hiring, training, promoting, and access to financial instruments and benefits that has made it harder for African Americans to save and build assets. Due to these discriminatory factors African Americans have encountered in the past and today wealth in black families tend to be close to what is needed to cover emergency savings while wealth in white families is well beyond the emergency threshold and can be saved or invested more readily, which contributes to widening this racial wealth gap.

The topic of the racial wealth gap is something that is rarely talked about, even though it is proven that it exists.