Melvin B. Miller
Editor & Publisher

An ominous report

Rarely do studies on the socioeconomic status of African Americans provide good news, but sometimes the reports are downright discouraging. The recent report on the “Economic Mobility of Black and White Families,” financed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, presents a profound cause for concern.

An important aspect of the American dream is that burgeoning opportunities would enable children to earn more than their parents. Observation of the black community would indicate that substantial advancement for children from low-income families would be difficult, but there has always been a belief that the road upward was paved for black children from middle-income families.

The report of the Economic Mobility Project has destroyed that assumption. They found that only 31 percent of black children from middle-income families have greater income than their parents, compared to 68 percent of similarly situated white children. And it gets worse. Almost half (45 percent) of black children from middle-income families fall to the bottom level of income distributions, compared to just 16 percent of white children.

This is indeed bad news. For some time, the strategy has been first to reduce the percentage of blacks below the poverty level. In 1967, 39.3 percent of blacks lived in poverty. By 2006 that number had been reduced to 24.3 percent. Improvement was slow, but things were moving in the right direction.

The second effort, which proceeded simultaneously with the first, was to close the gap between the earnings of blacks and whites. The gap between black and white male workers closed between the 1960s and the mid-1970s, but has been stuck since then. In 2004, full-time black male workers earned just 78 percent of what white workers did.

The goal has always been for the maximum number of blacks to attain at least middle-income status. That was thought to be the safety zone. The middle-class family was seen as the place to launch the next generation of leaders and professionally successful blacks.

The strategy now must be to establish ways to keep the children from failing.

Thanks for the memories

For the last 20 years, African Americans who grew up in Roxbury during the 1940s and 1950s have met on the Saturday after Thanksgiving for an annual dinner dance. People come from all over the country to attend, but most still live in the Greater Boston area.

The revelers call themselves “The Over the Hill Gang,” because they range in age from the sixties to the nineties. They come to greet old friends and to reminisce about “the good old days,” even though life was hard. Back then, there was no affirmative action and very few opportunities for African Americans.

Despite those difficulties, there were solid friendships and mutual respect that sustained the village. There were rules of conduct that people followed. It was never acceptable for residents to prey on one another. People did not even have to be meticulous about locking their doors.

Times have changed. Vulgarity and violence are commonplace. It is doubtful that the youth of today will have a reason to convene in 50 years to reminisce about their youth. What a shame.

“Don’t you think he’s a little too old to still be getting an allowance?”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The recent report of the Economic Mobility Project finds that only 31 percent of black children from middle-income families earn more than their parents and 45 percent fall to the lowest income level.