It is no secret that there is a huge wealth gap between Caucasian Americans, and the "minority" races of the U.S. In fact, studies show (Board of Govenors & Federal Reserve System), that even though the overall racial and ethnic inequality in wealth narrowed from 2013-2016, the median wealth gap remains large and shows no signs of slowing down. White median wealth households have, on average, seven times the wealth of Black median wealth households. This has been the issue and is not going away. How do we solve this? Let's explore the current climate.
In the wake of the massacre of unarmed Black Americans, a pledge has been made. There are pledges of solidarity; but even better, pledges to contribute in ways to reduce the massive wealth gap between Caucasian-and-Black Americans. This could mean the beginning of something wonderful, or it could be a wonderful disaster. There are multiple perspectives on this topic. I will explore the topic that will have to be addressed, education.
Money is great, but with no infrastructure or processes/steps to carry it beyond the current generation, it will just be currency. We have all heard the stories of the "jackpot millionaires" who either end up broke or dead.
Some of us were taught to get a college education and, work a nine-to-five, to have your piece of the "American Dream;" meaning, you should be able to afford a house and the modest lifestyle you want to live. At least, this is what I was taught as a young Black American woman. No education on home ownership, investments, building credit, networking or building a business. My family's goal was institutional education before amassed success. Which, for their generation was perhaps an awesome idea. For my generation, however, it doesn't completely apply.
The real knowledge to be learned is "ownership." If anything was learned from this pandemic, its the understanding that in any given moment your college-degreed career could possibly be expendable. You may actually have to live off of only what you own. We are sadly mistaken if we think the real-estate game is still not very relevant in today's market. What you own is YOURS; what is loaned to you can be rescinded. It's that simple.
Where do we go from here? Let's be very clear... PAYMENT IS DUE IN FULL AMERICA. We (Black Americans) are in no way, shape, or form accepting the median wealth gap; nor are we accepting the inequalities that have been bestowed upon us. Let's also be very clear, that here and now is the time the utilize Youtube, friends, family, social sites and books to get any information you can on acquiring/keeping wealth. Now, is the time to educate ourselves and honor our ancestors by creating generational wealth. THIS is the time we get the money road of life right, and understand the basic principle of diversifying your dollar, the right way.
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