South of the James

By Conaway B. Haskins III

May 15, 2005

As the American economy settles into a pattern of steady growth, no discussion of where Black America stands would be complete without casting an eye toward issues of poverty. More so that any other statistic, economic poverty is a good proxy for class stratification, something that Low Country has addressed, particularly in the 2004 election recap. Poverty is linked to many of the problems that persist in Black America, such as educational deficiencies, poor health, crime pandemics, and widespread joblessness. As both a cause and effect factor in American life, alleviating and reducing poverty has been the centerpiece of numerous public policy and social reform efforts inside and outside Black America. In the debate over the unfinished agenda of Black America, merely mentioning and discussing poverty and those who live in it is not enough. If we accept that class distinctions are a key fact of life in Black America, we must examine those who are also in the working class or are “working poor.”

In 2004, it was estimated that 24% of Black people and 33% of Black children lived below the poverty line. 24% of all Black people and 27% of all Black children live between poverty and twice the poverty line. This means that at least half of all Black people live well above impoverished conditions in terms of income, and could legitimately be considered middle class. Again, the issue of geography is important as income and wealth has different connotations and interacts differently with opportunity, in different sections of the country.  Compared to ten years ago – 1994 – these numbers have improved somewhat. Ten years ago, 31% of Black people and 43 % of Black children lived under the poverty line. 24% of Black people and 25% of Black children lived between poverty and twice the poverty line. On the surface, this shows that we are generally doing much better than we did in the past.

If we dig a bit deeper, we start to see trends that are a once confounding and hopeful. The issue of single parenthood, especially for our women and girls, is one that has been debated for years, with good reason. Single African American mothers face a 40% poverty rate and almost 30% of Black single moms live between poverty and twice the poverty rate. In 1994, half of Black single mothers lived below the poverty rate and another 25% lived between poverty and twice the poverty rate. While these figures to illustrate that Black single moms had a slight bit of improvement in terms of their economic condition, the fact that over 70% of them persistently subsist at poverty or working poor levels is stunning statistic. It is understandable that much ado has been made over this, but, harkening back the notion that we cannot define ourselves so completely by our weakest links, we must continue to provide context for such discussions.

On the other side of the coin is the fact that only 8.6% of married Black couples live under the poverty line, and only 20% live between poverty and twice the poverty rate. Going back to 1994 shows that a shade over 10% of married Blacks lived in poverty and 23% lived between poverty and twice the poverty rate. The continuing decrease in the number of married Blacks who live in poverty should be of great interest to all of us, but it is far too premature to announce causative relationships around family stability, wealth and income in the Black America. More research needs to be done.

However we choose look at it these numbers, we can safely assert that, on balance, Black America is doing better today that we were yesterday. The overall decrease in concentration of poverty and the stabilization of employment among African Americas is something that should give us cause for hope. In short, if we merely go by the numbers, contrary to conventional wisdom regarding racial dynamics in this country, things are not nearly as bad as some make them out to be.