Black lives matter! Our nation, the United States, was economically built upon the backs of black men and women. No longer can we remain ignorant of the injustices and disparities between white Americans and black Americans. The data is astounding!
Black Net Worth
The average black family has a net worth of $12,920 versus the average white family’s net worth of $143,600 per the 2016 census bureau. 70% of black households fall below the middle-class threshold of $68k compared to only 40% of white households.
Black Oppression and Exploitation
Chattel slavery in the United States exploited black men, women, and children in every unimaginable manner possible until 1865. Even after 1865, the economic oppression of black people continues arguable even to today in the United States. Don’t black lives matter? Unjust segregation continued exploiting black men, women, and children until the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This was only 56 years ago as of 2020.
Jim Crow laws, the GI bill, the New Deal, and loan redlining all systematically oppressed and exploited black men and women. And these specific examples only ended 56 years ago. We continue to have systemic inequalities between black people and the privileged white.
Continued Black Oppression and Exploitation
This includes income inequality, educational inequality, mass incarceration, and police brutality. George Floyd’s recent murder unfortunately all too clearly highlights this. Black lives matter! Did you know that black people make up only 13% of the US population, but 40% of the homeless population and 34% of the prison population? Black lives matter! Clearly there’s a continued systemic racial problem.
Black Wealth Inequality
The wealth gap is multifaceted .The wealth of black families decreased by 75% from 1983 to 2013 while white family wealth grew an average of 14%.
90% of young blacks graduate high school. Yet black workers make an average of only $0.83 per $1 that the same white worker makes. Do black lives matter?
73% of white families own a home whereas only 40% of black families own their home.
Clearly there are underlying systemic issues that continue to cause economic inequality. Black live matter.
Black Colorblindness IS Racism
White American families often teach their children racial colorblindness ideology. This is morally wrong. Colorblindness seems like a good thing as it helps us see the things we have in common with other people who are different from us. Colorblindness conveniently ignores the racial differences of Americans including the vastly different ways black people experience life.
Colorblindness is a white privilege. White people can choose to conveniently not see the color of another person’s skin because whiteness is the current cultural American norm. Don’t black lives matter?
Being black is NOT shameful. Colorblindness ignores the differences of black people of not just their skin color but also their rich history, culture, and way of life that comes with black skin. The alternative to colorblindness is multiculturalism. Watch Black Panther to capture a glimpse at the honor and beauty of blackness. Black lives matter!
Black Lives Matter NOW
I don’t have the answers to the current racial issues in America in 2020. Significant and substantial reparations are probably a start. Our nation unfathomably exploited black men, women, and children for hundreds of years to our great economic gain after all.
I DO want to create awareness and celebrate black men and women. Stop killing black people. Black lives matter!
I DO want to celebrate the black nurses who smashed barriers and led the way for black nursing professionals. Happy Juneteenth!
Black Nurse Leaders
Mary Mahoney worked as the first trained black nurse in the US in 1845–1926.
Jesse Scales was the first black public health nurse in the US in 1900.
Estelle Massey Riddle Osborne, RN, M.A. was first black nurse to earn a master’s degree in 1931 and first black member of ANA’s board of directors in 1948.
Elizabeth Lipford Kent, RN, Ph.D. was the first black nurse to earn a Ph.D. in 1955 from University of Michigan.
Vernice Ferguson, RN, FAAN, FRCN was the first black Chief of Nursing at the National Institutes of Health in 1972.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, MPA, BSN, RN was the first black nurse elected to the U.S. Congress in 1972.
Barbara Nichols, DHL, MS, RN, FAAN was the first black president of the ANA in 1978.
Randolph Rasch, Ph.D, RN, FAANP was the first black man to earn an FNP and to earn a Ph.D. in nursing in 1988.
Thank you to ALL the black nurses and nurse practitioners for all you do for our patients. You’re the best!
Sources to check out:
Racial Wealth Gap in the United States
Wealth, Asset Ownership, & Debt of Households Detailed Tables: 2016
50 years after the Kerner Commission
Examining the Black-white wealth gap
African-American Nurses Who Changed A Nation
12 charts that show how Black Americans face alarming economic inequality
The black-white economic divide is as wide as it was in 1968
