Did You Know that Most (70%) Black People are NOT Poor?

[qwlauren35]

There are a lot of statistics out there that point to financial disparities. So, I'm not saying that most of us are rich, but most of us aren't poor, many of us don't live "in the ghetto", or use food stamps.

In contrast, there are LOTS of poor white people.

I say this because I find myself wondering if people need a paradigm shift.

5 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Before I saw the statistic, I thought most black people were poor.
	0 (0%)
	Before I saw the statistic, I thought at least half of all black people were poor.
	0 (0%)
	I associate black people with poverty, but I never thought of it in terms of a number.
	0 (0%)
	Even though the black people I know aren't poor, I think of black people as generally poor
	0 (0%)
	Based on what I've observed, since I don't know any poor black people, I assumed the number was low.
	0 (0%)
	I knew the statistics before this post - I know that most black people aren't poor.
	3 (60%)
	The statistic doesn't surprise me - I know that most black people aren't poor.
	2 (40%)
	It has nothing to do with me so I don't think about it.
	0 (0%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Jackie Wilson Said]

1. If most were honest, I would think they (white people that is)

would admit they associate black with ghetto.

It is probably understandable and not overtly malicious given the level of white privilege there is, but surely wrong.

[Kalidurga]

2. So I assume you have a point to this.

You can spell it out on your keyboard if you like.

[qwlauren35]

5. It was something that came up in the AA Forum.

It does NOT have anything to do with a particular presidential candidate. It's just a question.

My point is to show people the statistic, see how they react, and see if it makes people stop and think.

There has already been one person who said "I associate black people with poverty". So maybe that person is the one person I wanted to reach.

[Kalidurga]

8. Perhaps, but it just looks like another way of saying poor people are not important

we shouldn't talk about poverty because well most people aren't poor.

[qwlauren35]

9. GOODNESS NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Even if it's only 5%, in a wealthy country, we need to take care of our poor, especially our elderly, our disabled and our children.

[Kalidurga]

10. Well Bernie gets trashed for talking about that issue

I have seen that over and over again and they say Bernie talk about the social issues. He does that and whoops he thinks only in terms of the ghetto or something, I am not catching that drift.

[qwlauren35]

12. I don't really care

who the candidate of choice is for the person who answers the poll.

I know about the "Bernie and black people" drama. I don't want this poll to go in that direction.

[Uponthegears]

3. GD-P?

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. I presume you mean the poverty rate

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/

poverty rate by family unit: white 10%; black 26%; hispanic 24%; other 15%; overall 15%

With whites being nearly 5 times the number of blacks, this does mean there are more whites in poverty than blacks, but if you want to say there are lots of white poor people 'in contrast', it would make more sense to talk about the absolute numbers, not a percentage.

[qwlauren35]

7. In the back of my mind

I think about that town in Mississippi, all white, all poor, all on financial assistance, all Republican.

There are pockets of extreme poverty all over America. 10% of 150 million (I'm suggesting that white people are only 50% of America), that's still 15 million poor white people. So, sometimes it makes sense to look at the numbers. If you give black people 15%, and that makes us 45 million, then at 30% poor, we have 13.5 million poor black people.

So I guess it's pretty close to the same.

I did the math in my head, so I could be off.

[Yo_Mama]

6. It's closer to 74-75%.

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/

Nationally, the poverty rate for American blacks is close to Hispanic rates. But it is significantly higher than for whites.

It varies a lot by state, and when you age adjust it often gets closer (the young are generally more likely to be poor).

The highest poverty rates in the US are Amerind:
https://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acsbr11-17.pdf

[qwlauren35]

11. Sometimes I think

that discussing Native American issues, poverty rates, alcoholism, etc. is something *NOBODY* wants to talk about.

When VAWA was coming up for renewal, it had a lot of new provisions. One of them was assistance for transgendered individuals and lesbian victims of domestic violence. But it also illuminated, for me, the high incidence of rape that native American women experience at the hands of white men, and how little they can do about it.

I was REALLY glad when the progressive Democrats forced the Republicans to vote for it, instead of the watered down crap version that the Republicans wanted.

My US Senate candidate, Donna Edwards, (D-MD) talks about pay issues, not just for black and white women, but also for Latinas (worse) and native Americans (worse).

I think that's why I don't begrudge them the casinos. Or the irony that they get rich off of American gambling greed. I think it's only fair.

[Arazi]

13. Roughly 40% of all "middle class" families are one paycheck away from poverty

http://www.mybudget360.com/paycheck-to-paycheck-people-living-paycheck-to-paycheck/

Here's the actual study where approximately 30% of AA households would fall in this group of "working poor".

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/projects/bpea/spring%202014/2014a_kaplan.pdf

The graph in the first part of this report is interesting as well as it seems to me that the working poor should also be included in the discussion

http://blackdemographics.com/households/middle-class/

As a person whose frequently, if not most of the time, been working poor I know I don't fit the exact definition of poverty but sometimes it's a distinction without a difference



Good OP!