Obama Wiped Out Black Middle Class Gains of 30 Years

October 9th, 2012

Black middle class economically vulnerable
Downturn has wiped out gains of last 30 years, Urban League says


Chicago Tribune:

Generations of Valerie Magee's family, from her grandparents to her children, have deepened their roots in the black middle class, finding a pathway to prosperity through college education and the support of family members.

But as Magee, 56, watches college tuition skyrocket and wealth and incomes plummet, she worries that college might be moving beyond her young grandchildren's grasp.


So Magee, a divorced nurse administrator, recently sold her pricey south suburban Matteson home, hoping that will free her up financially to better assist her children if they need help with a future mortgage payment or tuition.

"Every generation wants the next to move up at least one more rung on the ladder, not backward — never backward," she said. "My daughter and son-in-law are doing OK for now, but who knows what will happen tomorrow?"

For months, the presidential candidates have been trying to court the middle class, extending offers of tax cuts, lower gas prices and better schools. The message: America does well when the middle class does well. The corollary: We feel your pain.

But much less attention has been given to the black middle class, which since the recession and slow recovery has suffered massive decreases in wealth and high rates of home foreclosures. Blacks overall are experiencing a 13.4 percent unemployment rate, according to figures released Friday, much higher than the national rate of 7.8 percent.

The Pew Charitable Trusts' Economic Mobility Project recently released a report projecting that 68 percent of African-Americans reared in the middle of the wealth ladder will not do as well as the previous generation.

In August, the National Urban League's State of Black America 2012 report found that nearly all the economic gains that the black middle class made during the last 30 years have been wiped out by the economic downturn.

"This is a very dire situation," said Valerie Rawlston Wilson, an economist with the National Urban League Policy Institute. "Even for blacks who have college degrees, we've seen a doubling of their unemployment (rate) between 2007 and 2010."

Roxie King, 63, who lost her job as a cardio echo ultrasound technician in 2010, has been fighting to keep her Chicago home.

"You're robbing Peter to pay Paul and you're trying to keep the lights on and it's a real struggle," King said. "You go through whatever little nest egg you had, and all you have left is frustration."

That nest egg is central to the discussion about the middle class. It's often key to how well a family rebounds after a financial catastrophe, or whether a kid makes it to college.