Racial Economic Disparities: a tragedy that hasn't changed

In Memphis, the largest ethnic group living in poverty is African-Africans. The Census Bureau estimates that 121,371 African Americans in Memphis are living in poverty. They estimate that 30,292 white people are living below the poverty line. ^[1] So, the number of African-Americans living in poverty in this city is an astounding four times more than the number of whites living in poverty.

Sadly, the poverty rates, as well as racial disparities in poverty percentages, in Memphis are only increasing. From 2015 to 2016, for the white population, the poverty percent change increased by 2.3%. For the African-American population, that percentage was almost 4 times higher at a 7.3% increase. The stats are even more shocking when looking at Shelby County as a whole. In Shelby County from 2015 to 2016, the percent change in poverty rate for the white population decreased by 6.7%, but for the African-American population, the percent change in poverty rate increased by 10.6%. ^[2]

Now let’s look at the numbers nationwide. In 1968, the year the King was murdered, the Bureau of Census reported that 10.0% of whites fell below the poverty line nationally, and 34.7% of African Americans were living in poverty nationally. In 1959, 9 years earlier, 18.1% of whites lived in poverty, while 55.1% of African-Americans lived in poverty. ^[3] Although the percentages are overall higher in 1959 than in 1968, the ratio of poverty in African-Americans versus whites are the same in both years. The percentage of African-Americans living in poverty is triple that of the white population living in poverty.

Here’s where the numbers become even more shocking. One might think that the poverty percentages of both whites and African-Americans are about equal since its 2018, right? Wrong. The numbers are the almost the same. In the 50 years since King has been killed, the poverty disparities between whites and African-Americans have hardly changed at all. Looking nationally, in 2015, the poverty rate for whites was 10.0%, while the poverty rate for African-Americans was more than double that at 23.8%. ^[2] This a serious problem that needs to be addressed and fixed immediately. The United States has made progress in racial equality since the 1960s, but economically, we have not. As long as these stats are a reality for our country, then America is not a “land of equality” with “equal opportunity for all”. Unless something in our country dramatically changes, the next generation will continue reflecting these same numbers in racial economic disparities.

The reason King was even in Memphis on April 4, 1968, the day he was brutally murdereds, was to support the sanitation workers’ strike. The sanitation workers were protesting for equality, and specifically economic equality. Their protest signs were simple: “I am a man”. All men and women deserve to be treated fairly and equally, and this includes having equal opportunities economically. Now 50 years later, those sanitation workers still haven’t fully been given what they were fighting for.

                                                        

“Memphis, TN.” Data USA, datausa.io/profile/geo/memphis-tn/#demographics.

Delavega, Elena. “Memphis Poverty Fact Sheet.” Sept. 2017.

U.S Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-60, No. 68, “Poverty in the         United States: 1959 to 1968,” U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1969.