15 Charts That Prove We’re Far From Post-Racial
(FILES) US President Lyndon Johnson (l) shakes hands with the US clergyman and civil rights leader Martin Luther KIng (c) 03 July 1964 in Washington DC, after handing him a pen during the ceremonies for the signing of the civil rights bill at the White House. Martin Luther King was assassinated on 04 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray confessed to shooting King and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. King’s killing sent shock waves through American society at the time, and is still regarded as a landmark event in recent US history. (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
On July 2, 1964, the Civil Rights Act was signed into law, officially banning discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It also ended racial segregation in schools, at the workplace and in general public facilities.
Fifty years removed from that milestone, it’s apparently easy to think that we’re over racism.
Here are 15 facts that prove that’s not the case.
1) Affluent blacks and Hispanics still live in poorer neighborhoods than whites with working class incomes.
An analysis of census data conducted by researchers at Brown University found that income isn’t the main driving factor in the segregation of U.S. cities. “With only one exception (the most affluent Asians), minorities at every income level live in poorer neighborhoods than do whites with comparable incomes,” the researchers found.
“We cannot escape the conclusion that more is at work here than simple market processes that place people according to their means,” their report stated. Along with residential segregation, the study notes, comes access to fewer resources for those in minority neighborhoods.
2) There’s a big disparity in wealth between white Americans and non-white Americans.
White Americans held more than 88 percent of the country’s wealth in 2010, according to a Demos analysis of Federal Reserve data, though they made up 64 percent of the population. Black Americans held 2.7 percent of the country’s wealth, though they made up 13 percent of the population.
Article Credit
“15 Charts That Prove We’re Far From Post-Racial
By Braden Goyette and Alissa Scheller
Huffington Post. 2 July 2014