In some ways, the racial wealth divide is worse now than it was when Martin Luther King Jr. was fighting for economic equality.
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In the months leading up to his death, Martin Luther King Jr. did what is often described in the business world as a “pivot.” He saw gains being made in one area, and in order for continued gains to be made in all areas it meant he had to pull back the lens on one issue and zoom on another. In 1968 he was zooming hard on economic equality and the racial wealth divide. At a rally to support striking AFSCME sanitation workers, he said:
“Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know now that it isn’t enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn’t have enough money to buy a hamburger?”
In that exact year, a black person made just $0.60 for every $1 made by a white person. Today, a black person makes just $0.57 for every $1 made by a white person.
And the black jobless rate is twice that of whites.
And blacks lost 3x more of their assets during the depression than did whites.
And in some ways our schools are about as segregated as ever.
In their book The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander and Cornell West make a strong case that we Americans haven’t ended our racial caste system, we’ve just changed the way it lives and breathes.
Alex Gibney’s documentary, Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream, winner of the 2013 George Foster Peabody Award, highlights a single building that is home to some of the wealthiest Americans, including David H. Koch, while just across the Harlem River is South Bronx, an area where half of the population struggles to find employment and is on food stamps.
We’ve bridged many gaps when it comes to racial equality. And Martin Luther King Jr. would be damn proud to support them, with a Tweet or two from his smartphone, while out giving speeches about the absurdities that are still going on and even deepening.
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Great article Cameron. Jack, sorry, you completely and utterly missing the meat of this meal.
“Issues of race, class, the haves, and have not’s etc, while they are real- have been manufactured as a sleight of hand to keep us angry and focused on the wrong things…”
Spoken like a true American white male. Wow. There’s nothing manufactured, it’s real. To place Trayvon Martin and Kanye/Kim in the same sentence is quite sad.
@ Excerpts from Martin Luther King, Jr. Source: King, Martin Luther Jr. Beyond Vietnam and Casualties of the War in Vietnam. New York: Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam, 1986. A PROPER SENSE OF PRIORITIES February 6, 1968, Washington, D.C. http://www.aavw.org/special_features/speeches_speech_king04.html NOTE: Take the time to read the full speech, remembering MLK was using 1968 dollar valuations. Keep in mind that today, approx. 85 people own the majority of financial assets ON EARTH with an estimated 21 trillion in invisible assets due to trade agreements, tax benefits and loopholes etc. Everyone pays the price for this level of greed.We are… Read more »