While reading Black Citymakers, I was struck by his historical analysis of the Black bank, particularly because it caused me to think when will the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites become virtually eliminated. Hunter’s look at the history of not only Brown & Stevens and Cosmopolitan, but also Freeman’s Bank was very good and helpful. I liked how he linked it back to the end of slavery. I think it’s interesting to consider it starting then because I have seen the argument that slavery ended over 200 years ago and by now Blacks should be equal. I feel like this argument forgets how hard it was for Blacks to establish financial security as Hunter showed due to the failures of all these banks.
This portion also caused me to think about how race is sometimes is downplayed, while class is seen as the main problem, like in affirmative action debates for example. If you are a well off Black person, then the effects of race are diminished. Even though this could be true in certain contexts, I think it’s also important to consider wealth vs. income, something I remember from taking AFRAMER 10. Income is essentially wages earned from work, while wealth is based off ownership, such as cars, houses, land, etc. When people talk about class vs. race, they often tend to think more along the lines of income than wealth, and the reality is there is a wealth gap between Blacks and Whites that is based off race, so race cannot be ignored.
Lastly, this chapter of the book brought this question to mind; will Blacks ever be able to attain this great wealth and almost completely eliminate the wealth gap? I know that the wealth gap will most likely not be completely eliminated because of the setbacks Blacks have, but I do wonder whether this wealth gap will reduce substantially. With all the setbacks Blacks had to face, I wonder if it will simply be Blacks born into wealth becoming even wealthier, while Blacks born into poverty are stuck in the cycle of poverty. This isn’t to say that every Black born poor or rich will never be able to get out of that, but more whether or not the overwhelming majority will be able to overcome it.
Great distinction Gabi!
I think it’s incredibly important to consider wealth as distinctly different from income. In William Julius Wilson’s article we read “The Declining Significance of Race: Revisited” he does an excellent job of discussing income parity between young college-educated black males for example and their white counterparts and he contends that educated blacks like educated whites will continue to enjoy advantages and privileges of their class status (62), he does not address the wealth gap itself.
This also brings to mind the aristocratic blacks (one of the sociological groups of blacks Du Bois points to) in Hunter’s work and how they came to achieve such status, how they’ve passed down the status or not and whether or not wealthy blacks and wealthy whites have more in common with each other than they do among the non-wealthy in their own “racial group.” That is, while race and class must be considered together, is there a point at which is diverges and breaks down and where?