The Color of Wealth

And the Answer is: Small Groups on a Massive Scale

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These numbers have been in my head since I first read them in 2015, like a melody my brain won’t stop repeating, over and over.

More than any other single fact, these two numbers bespeak the intransigence, complexity and inhumanity of the racial disparities in our country.

• $247,500 --- the median wealth of white households in Boston in 2015.

• $8 --- the median wealth of Black households in Boston in 2015.

This dramatic disparity is not mainly financial. The dollar value is a measure of the value we, as a nation, place on human beings.

While the disparity is tragic, accepting the reality of the underlying conditions that produce it opens a window for change. In a real sense, racism is simultaneously a moral challenge of great enormity and our most potent teacher, if we’re willing to stand back, to bear witness, to discover from each other a new moral and spiritual path.

As I’ve reflected on these two numbers, I’ve actually found myself relieved. Shirley and I like to tell our clients: “The good news is that the bad news is out.”

$247,500 versus $8 drives a nail in the coffin of denial. Now, at last, in a single figure we have an opportunity to face into our worst fears, rise up collectively, comprehend the immorality of our situation and focus our spirit and wisdom together as one people to transform our racial culture.

As author/scholar Dr. Eddie Glaude suggests in the title of his new book, we have an opportunity to “Begin Again” to truly address this “value gap.”

This issue extends far beyond Boston. A 2017 study, by the Institute for Policy Studies and Prosperity Now, reports that, if current trends persist, by 2053 the median wealth of Black households nationally will decline to $0.

As Dr. Parvez Ahmed, of the University of North Florida noted in a recent speech, the wealth disparity between Black and white Americans is greater now than during formal segregation of the 50s and 60s.

Beginning Again

This blog builds on my prior ones by elaborating how we might “Begin Again” in our pursuit of racial equity. I advocate Small Groups on a Massive Scale.

This is the sacred work of sitting together in healing circles, bearing witness together with open hearts. Such a process is scaled up to involve tens of thousands of willing people.

We seek to elevate the work of racial reconciliation into transformative actions in the world, with deep interpersonal engagement advancing Dr. King’s “Beloved Community.” The numbers $247,500 and $8 indicate this is required more now than ever.

First, a deeper look into the numbers.

The Meaning Beneath the Numbers

These numbers come from “The Color of Wealth in Boston,” a study released in 2015 by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Duke University and the New School in New York. It was funded by the Ford Foundation.

The study is part of The National Asset Scorecard for Communities of Color (NASCC). Their research provides a detailed analysis of disparities down to the “ancestral origin level.” This analysis goes beyond the usual racial and ethnic generalizations.

Studies similar to Boston’s were conducted by the Fed and partners in Atlanta; Washington, DC; Los Angeles and  Tulsa. Gross disparities show up in all these cities.

While racial disparities are spread across all communities of color, it’s often clearer to see them through the narrow lens of race. 

Human Suffering

Human suffering lies beneath the numbers --- a consequence beyond measure. Heart- wrenching poverty in predominately Black neighborhoods; Black infants who die in disproportionate numbers before reaching their first birthday; disproportionate numbers of Black adults who die prematurely from a variety of avoidable causes; youth in our streets locked in by hopelessness and anger who turn inward against each other and their neighbors; hundreds of thousands of Black men and women locked behind bars for transgressions whites do not go to jail for.

The $247,500 versus $8 disparity includes but transcends the many labels current today. Labels such as structural racism, unconscious bias, cultural competence, Critical Race Theory describe real world dynamics. And they serve to mask the deeper spiritual crisis at the core of who we are as a nation — our fractured collective soul.

Internalized Racism

Adding to the tragedy is an issue that contributes to the disparity but is rarely included in the public discourse: Internalized racism. This idea relates to the impact of racism — or “colorism” as it is sometimes called — on the inner lives of Black people, and other people of color.

In “Notes of a Native Son,” James Baldwin wrote this about his father: “… he was defeated long before he died because, at the bottom of his heart, he really believed what white people said about him.” Baldwin then uses the “N” word to describe what his father believed about himself. This is internalized racism.

In “Black on Black Homicide,” psychiatrist Dr. Alvin Poussaint, who is Black, suggests: “Projected self-hatred [among many Black youth] facilitates blind rage and gives the perpetrator of the violent attack a sense of legitimacy and justification.”

Internalized racism within Black life is a difficult topic. The idea is that centuries of enslavement and oppression have resulted in the internalization of the idea of white superiority and Black inferiority — that lives, societies and traditions based on European culture are inherently superior to those Black lives, societies and traditions that are based on African culture.

In this sense, internalized racism may be the most tragic consequence of American racism. One in which people oppressed for generations unconsciously buy into the idea of their inferiority.

Culturally conditioned racism among whites is usually the main topic in discussions about race. To the extent that internalized racism is a factor, this suggests a form of unconscious or subconscious cultural collusion that helps to explain $247,500 versus $8.

In these areas and so many others, soul-destroying racial disparities persist, buried deep below the surface of two simple numbers.

The growing Black middle class seems at times overwhelmed as it tries valiantly and in a variety of ways to reach back and help.  Caring whites engaged in the struggle for equity are often bewildered as to how they can make a difference.

What is remarkable in these conditions is the resiliency of Black communities and Black culture in surviving centuries of oppression, continuing to challenge the underlying beliefs and serving as the conscience of the country. This oppressed community persists in rising up — producing from its spirit a Martin Luther King, a Maya Angelou, a John Coltrane, a Rosa Parks, an Amanda Gorman, a Harry Belafonte, a James Weldon Johnson, a Toni Morrison, a Marian Anderson, a James Baldwin, a Michelle Obama, an Augusta Savage, a Katherine Johnson, a Jackie Robinson, a Simone Biles, a Billie Holiday.

The Moral Challenge

Dr. King was a man of faith. Morality was at the core of his teachings. His suggestion that the moral arc of the universe is long but bends toward justice was a declaration of faith in a just God.

Dr. King’s moral arc derives from an 1853 sermon by Rev. Theodore Parker, an abolitionist minister from Lexington, a town near Boston. Rev. Parker was active in the campaign to end slavery.  The spiritual work of both Dr. King and Rev. Parker continues. Those of us involved in racial reconciliation today are also engaged in work of the spirit, sacred work. Work that envisions a world where every human being is fully and equally valued.

A Personal Note

Dr. Eddie Glaude is an analyst of current racial affairs whom I deeply respect. His writings, speeches and television appearances consistently provide potent insights. In “Begin Again,” Dr. Glaude has written wisely, “even good laws are distorted by the persistence of the value gap, meaning that changes in laws, no matter how necessary, will never be sufficient to produce a healthier society. Only addressing the deeper fears can accomplish that.”

And what, exactly, are those fears? According to Dr. Glaude:

“The country reaches the edge of fundamental transformation and pulls back out of a fear that genuine democracy will mean white people will have to lose something --- that they will have to give up their particular material and symbolic standing in the country.” He then quotes James Baldwin arguing, “that fear is at the heart of the moral psychology of the nation.”

I would add that perhaps Black people may have to give up something, as well. We may have to give up a belief of inferiority --- what Malcolm X called “our slave mentality.”

This is not an abstract idea for me. In my life, my own suspicion about my inferiority led me to make decisions that masked my fear that I was inferior because of the color of my skin.  I purchased houses that I could not afford, a Porsche I could not afford, designer suits and expensive shoes I did not need. And on and on. Behind my conspicuous consumption was a belief that white people and white culture were inherently superior. That I constantly had to prove myself their equal.

It has taken years of personal work, and the help of honest family and friends, to face into these debilitating beliefs. I remain a work in progress. I know we can all do this personal work. It may not be easy, but as Dr. King wrote: “All meaningful and lasting change begins on the inside.” Continually looking in the mirror. And it helps when we support each other in the process.

 While the economic challenge embodied in $247,500 versus $8 is clear, the psychological and moral challenges facing up to these fears are more complex.

Small Groups on a Massive Scale

Our city and our nation are discovering new ways to talk about these deeper realities, and the history that created them. Many organizations are employing the healing power of dialogue to move into our fears and through them to a better place. It’s within our power to move to a point where $247,500 versus $8 is accepted as an indicator of civic malady. We have the capacity to move past the denial --- on all sides.

The first step is to begin again and talk to each other in ways that transform our relationships and reveal a new spirit. It is essentially a question of faith. Those of us involved in racial reconciliation can affirm our faith in Dr. King’s optimism. We can prove the moral arc bends toward justice by casting off a mentality of scarcity and replacing it with a spirit of abundance. We can replace subtle competition with obvious, intentional collaboration.

Reconciliation happens as individuals sit together in a circle, bearing witness, listening tenderly, acknowledging biases, sharing life stories about race in an atmosphere free of reprisal or blame. These circles must be open to all who are committed to working through judgements and conflicts through nonviolent methods.

When data becomes personalized, a new consensus about the depth and scope of racial disparities arises naturally from the dialogue. Action-focused groups form and work toward change that is deeply-rooted and sustainable.

In our workshops, Shirley and I have found that most whites and many Blacks do not comprehend the dear price we pay for our racial divide. $247,500 - $8 captures that depth. Small circles of empathic engagement open space for acceptance of this and other truths.

Small groups on a massive scale implies hundreds of such circles locally and thousands nationally. Out of this sacred sharing, the moral arc will naturally bend toward justice. A coalition of willing citizens will discover new possibilities when we become open and vulnerable about our fears to make room for love.

By bearing witness in each other’s presence we can release a spirit of truth and reconciliation. There, we can move to action and create transformational change together for the benefit of all.

Begin Again

A broad scope of engagement of this type has yet to be attempted on the scale necessary to span the racial chasms that divide our city --- a chasm characterized by the simple numbers $247,500 versus $8.

We can bridge the value gaps by adopting Dr. King’s profoundly spiritual idea: that ordinary people facing into contentious issues together can discover common ground, embrace each other and embrace a new approach toward economic equity for all.

Dr. King spoke of the “inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny.” He said, “We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”

These were not hollow words; they were the basis of the early Civil Rights Movement. We need to return to them, honor them and begin again, with optimism and with love.

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Resources

The Color of Wealth in Boston

https://www.bostonfed.org/publications/one-time-pubs/color-of-wealth.aspx

The Color of Wealth in Miami

https://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/The-Color-of-Wealth-in-Miami-Metro.pdf

The Color of Wealth in Los Angeles

https://socialequity.duke.edu/portfolio-item/the-color-of-wealth-in-los-angeles/