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Middle-Class Dream Eludes African American Families
Washington Post ^ | 13 November 2007 | Michael A. Fletcher

Posted on 11/13/2007 6:28:17 AM PST by shrinkermd

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study -- a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.

Overall, family incomes have risen for both blacks and whites over the past three decades. But in a society where the privileges of class and income most often perpetuate themselves from generation to generation, black Americans have had more difficulty than whites in transmitting those benefits to their children.

Forty-five percent of black children whose parents were solidly middle class in 1968 -- a stratum with a median income of $55,600 in inflation-adjusted dollars -- grew up to be among the lowest fifth of the nation's earners, with a median family income of $23,100. Only 16 percent of whites experienced similar downward mobility. At the same time, 48 percent of black children whose parents were in an economic bracket with a median family income of $41,700 sank into the lowest income group.

This troubling picture of black economic evolution is contained in a package of three reports being released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts that test the vitality of the American dream. Using a nationally representative data source that for nearly four decades has tracked people who were children in 1968, researchers attempted to answer two questions: Do Americans generally advance beyond their parents in terms of income? How much is that affected by race and gender?

"We are attempting to broaden the current debate" beyond the growing gap between higher- and lower-income Americans, said John Morton, Pew's managing director for program planning and economic policy. "There is little out there on the question of mobility across generations, and we wanted to examine that."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: class; middle; race
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I note the only explanation discussed is race; however, perhaps the downdrift in income and social class might be explained by employment history and substance abuse history for both Whites and Blacks. Alternatively, there may be other factors that correlate with downdrift.
1 posted on 11/13/2007 6:28:18 AM PST by shrinkermd
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To: shrinkermd
three reports being released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts that test the vitality of the American dream.

So, if they downdrift, it ias the American Dream that is broken?....Right...
2 posted on 11/13/2007 6:31:19 AM PST by steel_resolve (Liberals, Dems, anarchists and traitors - get used to Americans getting in your face from hereon out)
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To: shrinkermd
Actually, this article is a pre-emptive campaign strike on this:

Movin' On Up - (A Treasury study refutes populist hokum about "income inequality.").

3 posted on 11/13/2007 6:31:49 AM PST by 1rudeboy
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To: shrinkermd

You can thank the snake Johnson and his Great Society give away, why work?


4 posted on 11/13/2007 6:33:59 AM PST by boomop1 (there you go again)
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To: shrinkermd

More entitlements I sense.


5 posted on 11/13/2007 6:34:14 AM PST by UglyinLA
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To: shrinkermd

It is Bush’s Fault, Hurricane Katrina, the 2000 selection, not election, Republicans and Reagan, I think I covered it all.


6 posted on 11/13/2007 6:35:48 AM PST by Trueblackman (Terrorism and Liberalism never sleep and neither do I)
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To: shrinkermd

Adding to your list: divorce...sexual promiscuity and resulting pregnancies...expansion of welfare programs...encouragement of the victim mentality...generalized decay of the culture


7 posted on 11/13/2007 6:35:51 AM PST by Wage Slave (Good fences make good neighbors. -- Robert Frost)
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To: shrinkermd
Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults

And, how many tried to better themselves by working hard, studying, going to school, joining the military & gaining an education THAT way, like me?

How many just sat back & waited for the gov't to help them?

8 posted on 11/13/2007 6:36:08 AM PST by Puppage (You may disagree with what I have to say, but I shall defend to your death my right to say it)
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To: shrinkermd

Frankly, since white folks are not permitted to discuss such issues without being labeled a racist or bigot, I have ceased to be concerned why it is that the dream is not being realized.


9 posted on 11/13/2007 6:36:20 AM PST by JustaDumbBlonde
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To: shrinkermd
Have you ever heard of "The Great Society"? This is the cause and the fact that the "experts are perplexed" points out how they are hopelessly tied to a bogus frame of reference!

The Great Society, a creation of Lyndon Baines Johnson, was an attempt to eliminate poverty, but in reality, provided African Americans with an easy, fast-track to a place where they became wards of the state and had their, until that time, strong nuclear family ethic destroyed by government money that encouraged out-of-wedlock births. Unemployment was encouraged by relatively high welfare payments and African-American men started to provide "stud service" to African-American women who were interested in the welfare checks awarded for each child in poverty. A certain percentage of the check was to be forwarded to the man. This resulted in large numbers of African-American families without strong, male role models and self-perpetuating "underclass".

I consider it an act of genocide inflicted on the African-American society by the Democrat Party.

10 posted on 11/13/2007 6:36:36 AM PST by Redleg Duke ("All gave some, and some gave all!")
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To: shrinkermd
Forty-five percent of black children whose parents were solidly middle class in 1968

The parents who were middle class in 1968 would presumably have had their formative years in the 40's and 50's, pre-civil rights era. The children, on the other hand, would have grown up in the 60's and 70's. A working hypothesis would be that the civil rights agenda has not been kind to black children.

11 posted on 11/13/2007 6:36:59 AM PST by FairWitness
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To: shrinkermd

I call BS.

About 55% of my clients are Black. Many of them are “ordinary” people that have a higher net worth than I do and certainly higher than their parents do.

Do some fall to poverty? Sure. I think just as many move UP from it.


12 posted on 11/13/2007 6:37:09 AM PST by RockinRight (Just because you're pro-life and talk about God a lot doesn't mean you're a conservative.)
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To: shrinkermd
however, perhaps the downdrift in income and social class might be explained by employment history and substance abuse history for both Whites and Blacks.

Don't forget single-motherhood, which went way up in this time period, and skyrocket among African-Americans..
13 posted on 11/13/2007 6:37:25 AM PST by Dr. Sivana (Not a newbie, I just wanted a new screen name.)
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To: shrinkermd
Cosby talks about the culture of fatherless families. Bet your bottom dollar the majority of the ones that went into poverty, regardless of race, had no father living in the home.
14 posted on 11/13/2007 6:37:50 AM PST by Earthdweller (All reality is based on faith in something.)
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To: shrinkermd

70% born out of wedlock.


15 posted on 11/13/2007 6:38:00 AM PST by Balding_Eagle (If America falls, darkness will cover the face of the earth for a thousand years.)
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To: shrinkermd

It’s election time. The MSM and liberal think tanks must create some more black and minority victimhood.


16 posted on 11/13/2007 6:38:43 AM PST by kabar
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To: Balding_Eagle

Bingo!


17 posted on 11/13/2007 6:40:32 AM PST by Macrinus
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To: shrinkermd
How many of those African-American children in 1968 lived in a household with an employed father on the premises?

How many now?

That's the answer.

Most white families have two bread-earners in the household much of the time, while most African-American households have one.

18 posted on 11/13/2007 6:41:41 AM PST by wideawake (Why is it that so many self-proclaimed "Constitutionalists" know so little about the Constitution?)
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To: shrinkermd
a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.

It is really not that perplexing. The downward trend coincides with the rise in popularity of the civil rights movement in which blacks were convinced they were a victim of the white man's society, coupled with the ever popular welfare system and affirmative action plans.

19 posted on 11/13/2007 6:42:13 AM PST by WesternPacific
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To: shrinkermd

They haven’t been watching “My Sweet 16” show. At least half the snotty little rich kids on there are black.

BTW, I don’t watch it but when channel surfing it’s pause for a snort of disgust.


20 posted on 11/13/2007 6:42:49 AM PST by mtbopfuyn (I think the border is kind of an artificial barrier - San Antonio councilwoman Patti Radle)
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