African American Economic Disparities

790 Words4 Pages

Education, wealth and assets, and labor and market opportunities has always been unequally divided between Caucasian and African Americans. African Americans do not amass huge sums of money, they own less property and receive unequal educational opportunities. These disparities have landed African Americans in the low socio-economic class. Trying to narrow the economic gap between White and Black Americans, policies such as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Welfare Policies were implemented. This essay will highlight how education, wealth and assets and labor market opportunities contribute to the economic gap in America.
For many African American families education is the ladder for upward mobility. It is seen as the equalizer, the pathway to opportunity. Research have shown that one key contributor to this problem is funding. During the 70’s there was a budget crisis which limits funding’s in New York’s public schools. Most of the schools that were affected, were schools that was in areas that was mostly populated by African Americans. These are often areas of low income. The lack of funds started creating a gap in the educational system; it brought in mediocrity teachers, overcrowded class rooms, limited exposure to certain subjects, the removal of some subjects all altogether, and stricter …show more content…

This is clearly evident in the three areas (educational, wealth and assets the labor market discussed above. Americans believe that if they work hard they will be able to attain upward mobility, but as the economic gap widen this belief is fading more and more. This gap will definitely have an impact on our nation if it continues to widen. Which could result into a permanent recession. The American constitution states “equality for all” yet hundreds of years later we are still struggling with equality for