Just because slavery and Jim Crow are over doesn’t mean systemic racism and oppression don’t exist in more covert ways. In 2016, the average net worth of a white family was $171,000, while the average net worth of a Black family was just $17,150. This shocking racial gap in wealth reflects the historical accumulation of centuries of inequality and discrimination. Systemic racism permeates every aspect of American life: Politics, Housing, Education, and Health.
The History of Residential Segregation: NPR
One primary social determinant of health is the socioeconomic status (SES) of one’s parents and grandparents. There is a social gradient in health; higher wealth translates into better health. For Black Americans, whose ancestors have been systematically oppressed for hundreds of years, this determinant of health carries very real and measurable differences which impact their health and put them behind from the very start.
Dating back to the 1950s, post-World War Two, policies such as the GI bill allowed young white soldiers to return home and purchase homes in suburbs cheaply. Racism in the housing industry and federal policies such as redlining barred Black men and families from buying these homes, leading to segregated residential communities (Massey, Denton, 2003). While white families were able to own homes and accumulate wealth, Black families were shut out of homeownership. The ability to accumulate wealth is passed down generationally, and relays social advantages such as being able to afford living in nicer school districts, sending children to college, better jobs which provide superior health insurance, and a safety net to fall back on in times of hardship (Dominguez, 2008). (Read the full report on residential disparities here from the American Center for Progress)
This disparity in wealth accumulation is seen today, as white families had on average 10x the wealth of black families in 2016. The grandfathers of Black fathers today were unable to buy homes, instead forced to rent apartments or houses in less expensive and less maintained parts of town. Rent does not build equity, and also makes renters vulnerable to exploitation from landlords. Unlike white families, who were able to help their children buy their first houses or simply by providing a more financially secure upbringing, Black families had substantially less wealth and fewer assets to pass on to their children. Subsequently, their children have a harder time making it to the middle class than their white counterparts and are “locked in” to these economically disadvantaged communities. Read here from the NY Times about how homeownership drives inequality.
Overtime, this cycle of disadvantage has led to predominantly Black neighborhoods, which have lower retail values, provide fewer educational and occupational opportunities, have increased rates of poverty, environmental risks and pollution, and fewer social services (Institute of Medicine, 1970). These all are factors which influence health on a community level, leading to greater severity of disease, greater instances of underlying medical conditions which complicate pregnancy, and poorer survival rates in Black communities (see here).