Racial Wealth Divide

Conservative TV personality Glenn Beck schedules "Restoring Honor" book launch at Washington Monument on anniversary of '63 march led by MLK, Jr.  State of the Dream 2010 co-author Dedrick Muhammad denounces Beck as ignorant, says it's not too late to restore his own honor.

Former UFE board member, Larry Yates, dismantles Sen. Jim Webb's (D-VA) argument against affirmative action, using good old fashioned facts and a splash of life experience.

Photo credit: DavidDubov

The US foreclosure crisis was cause for mass hysteria leading up to the 2008 financial meltdown, and the crisis continues to this day.  Despite that, the mainstream media has recently largely ignored widespread foreclosures and the deceptive and racially-discriminatory financial practices behind many of them.

Being that the housing bubble was the flimsy core of this Great Recession—and it has resulted in the biggest loss of wealth to communities of color in US history, we’d like to see this issue paid all due attention.

Today, we’ve got the good, the bad and the ugly on the foreclosures situation. We’ll start with the ugly so we can end on a high note.

The ugly: Subprime loans were at the epicenter of the initial stage of the foreclosure crisis, and even now, foreclosure rates are holding steady at high levels that are not expected to drop any time soon. Last month, we learned that one-tenth of all US mortgages are delinquent. Of those who’ve managed to hold onto their homes, one in four is “underwater,” meaning they owe more than their house is actually worth (January 2010 data).

Chart h/t Rortybomb

Communities of color are most impacted by this prolonged crisis, because high-cost home lending was racially targeted. People of color—including many who solidly qualified for prime-rate loans—were over three times more likely to receive a subprime loan than whites. Many banks are engaging in loan modifications, but more than 70% of those modifications are leaving homeowners with more to owe on their principal, which increases their probabilities of re-default.

The bad: Most of the moratoria on foreclosures have expired, without an effective solution to the crisis in place. Last year, a bill was brought to the Senate advocating for judicial modification of loan principles (also known as “cramdown”). But the banking lobbyists flexed their too-powerful political muscles, effectively cramming down cramdown and preventing the bill from passing.

Seems grim, doesn’t it? Don’t throw your hands up quite yet.

The good: Effective solutions are out there.  Read more >>

Photo credit: Pan-African News Wire

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released updated unemployment numbers for May 2010, and the story hasn’t yet changed…sort of. Nearly one in ten US workers continue to go without work, but the reality is still more unsettling for people of color.

Unemployment for white workers has fluctuated a few tenths of a point in recent months, and now sits at 8.8 percent. Workers of color, on the other hand, are still weathering unemployment storms of double-digit magnitudes. Latino unemployment fell 0.1% from the previous month to 12.4 percent. And, Black unemployment, despite a one-point drop, is still highest of all at 15.5 percent.

It's worth noting that last month's unemployment numbers are slightly distorted due to a rise in temporary government employment for Census 2010. That aside, we should continue bracing ourselves for a long and rough ride back to full employment.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and others in the Obama administration have said we shouldn’t expect a return to a more stable employment situation for a few years, at best. According to Mr. Geithner:

“The worst is behind us...However, the country faces significant and ongoing challenges: high unemployment, the need to build a new and stable foundation for prosperity in the years and decades ahead, and a medium- and long-term fiscal situation that could ultimately undermine future job creation and economic growth.”

Challenges to come, absolutely. But the worst being behind us? That has yet to be seen.

Read more >>

These spring months have been particularly hectic for UFE's Education Team. So, with great pleasure, I get to write this.

For four years, UFE has partnered with the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) to present a bird's-eye view of the economy as part of their Moving from Debt to Assets financial literacy education and empowerment program.

The program assumes a multi-faceted approach to keeping low-income people, predominantly from communities of color, out of financial harm's way, using education, counseling, leadership-building, and ongoing peer support--sometimes continuing for years after graduation--to prepare these folks for financial stability and upward economic mobility.

Steve and Jeannette, UFE's Pop[ular Education] Stars, were working with a national crew of fair tax organizers in Baltimore, and needed a hand for this month's class. I stepped in with educator/historian, activist/motivator, Susan Hecht, to co-present UFE's custom workshop, "Getting Aboard the Asset Train: Race, Class & Wealth in the US," to a full room in Dorchester, MA. 

Read more >>

Unemployment and wealth statistics for Black America speak to a much different reality than is perceived by some polled, says Glen Ford in the Pan-African News Wire. Ford notes that, in the "Age of Obama," the positive economic outlooks held by some African Americans are simply not supported by the facts of their current situation.

Popular Economics Education Training of Trainers

A 2-day Training of Trainers (TOT), featuring the Growing Divide and Closing the Racial Wealth Divide workshops. This TOT is for people seeking to improve their knowledge about economic inequality and the racial income & wealth gaps, and improve their skills in teaching this information to others.

Cost: $60-100 (sliding scale)

Hosted by the Economic Justice Coalition, Philadelphia, PA.

For more information: epwebbgpuac.org or 215-851-1759

The Color of Wealth

This workshop is part of the United Methodist Women's 2010 Quadrennial Assembly

April 29 through May 2, 2010 in St.Louis, MO

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship (Bill Moyers Journal, PBS) recount Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s last days and write of the continued postponement of his economic dream -- of equality of opportunity across lines of race and class -- by the "closed fist" of a free market system.

This report from the Insight Center, co-authored by Meizhu Lui, Director of the Closing the Racial Gap Initiative and former UFE staffer, views the US wealth divide through the lenses of race and gender. Key findings indicate a particularly depressing reality for women of color.