Racial Wealth Gap Research Paper

Words: 726
Pages: 3

The racial wealth gap is a long-standing issue in America, which affects millions of people every day across generations of families. This issue stems from America's history of unequal distribution and access to key resources because of systemic institutionalized racism, which has plagued people since its invention. The root causes of the racial wealth gap in America are racial targeted violence and forced displacement, redlining, and racial covenants which prevented ethnic families from establishing economic foundations. These practices originated in the post-war era, effectively squashing the dreams of returning minority soldiers who hoped to achieve the American dream by benefiting from the G.I. benefits that they had earned. However, these …show more content…
The racial favoritism in financial services paid off for white families, but minority families suffered greatly while trying to support themselves, creating an unfair advantage for white families to grow their wealth and pass it down to their children. Additionally, continued targeted crimes in ethnic communities, such as the Tulsa Race Riot, caused a lot of damage and financial losses, again making it difficult to grow one's wealth (King). Ethnic neighborhoods were also easy targets for city planning to eradicate for new development, such as suburban neighborhoods, building complexes, and new infrastructure. There are many examples of predominantly black neighborhoods being chosen as sites for highways, malls, apartments, etc. Residents are forcibly bought out (often for less than the property is worth), and businesses and homes are demolished in order for new things to be built on the land (TPT). These property losses due to city planning and violence create major gaps in minority family wealth, and add to the wealth gap in America with each