Thomas M Shapiro

Over a hundred years after the end of slavery, more than thirty years after the passage of major civil rights legislation, and following a concerted but prematurely curtailed War on Poverty, we harvest today a mixed legacy of racial progress. We celebrate the advancement of many blacks to middle-class status. [...] An official end to "de jure" housing segregation has even opened the door to neighborhoods and suburban residences previously off-limits to black residents. Nonetheless, many blacks have fallen by the wayside in their march toward economic equality. A growing number have not been able to take advantage of the opportunities now open to some. They suffer from educational deficiencies that make finding a foothold in an emerging technological economy near to impossible. Unable to move from deteriorated inner-city and older suburban communities, they entrust their children to school systems that are rarely able to provide them with the educational foundation they need to take the first steps up a racially skewed economic ladder. Trapped in communities of despair, they face increasing economic and social isolation from both their middle-class counterparts and white Americans. [...]

Income and asset inequalities throughout the life course (such as access to higher education, well-paying employment, and employment benefits) shape retirement resources. Those with fewer economic means or asset-building opportunities in early
adulthood and middle age will face greater financial challenges in old age and have to rely more heavily on the social safety net. Bolstering the special minimum benefit in Social Security, and coordinating this policy change with adjustments and reforms of other programs that affect low-income seniors, will serve to enhance the economic security of millions of retirees throughout the United States. This policy paper proposes three spheres of reform that will strengthen the economic security of older Americans, particularly those who worked in low-wage occupations. First, it builds upon the existing Social Security special minimum benefit for low income workers by tying this minimum to a modernized poverty measure. Second, the analysis reveals how program interactions must be considered to ensure that economic security is strengthened for the beneficiaries of the new minimum. Third, an examination of current asset limits for means-tested programs suggests that asset limit modifications would further enhance the economic security of low-income beneficiaries.

Draws on 1998/99 interviews with 75 white families in Boston, St. Louis, & Los Angeles to explore white parents' choice of neighborhood to live in & schools for their children, focusing on the role of race in the decision. It is asserted that the community & school choices of white parents are important facets of the reproduction of race & class stratification. Interview excerpts demonstrate how white parents, enabled by their race & class privilege, define "good" neighborhoods & "good" schools in terms of race. Attention is given to the in-depth interview techniques & methodological studies employed in the study, arguing that the approach fostered candid revelations on the part of the participants to reveal the degree of their racialized actions. J. Zendejas

Researchers began to explore the wealth holdings of households by race in the mid-1980s, when data became available for the first time. The magnitude and implications of these early findings were shocking: most found that, on average, black households owned only a dime for each dollar of wealth owned by white households (Lui, Robles, and Leondar- Wright 2006). This difference was much larger than the prevailing income gap of 60 cents-to-the-dollar. More alarmingly, the racial wealth gap has increased further since it was first analyzed. Our analysis reveals an increase of $151,000 in the absolute racial wealth gap between 1984 and 2009. This chapter empirically examines the main reasons behind the rise in the racial wealth gap over the past 25 years, deepening the analytic and policy understanding and narrative required to effectively disrupt and reverse this trend.