The difference in net worth of the average Black family and the average white family: $840,000.
I don’t think you can accept that number and still believe in the fairness of our economic system.
I’m always willing to hear arguments. But that number is the third torpedo, as the old salts used to say in the navy. The phrase means that, at some point, the burden of proof shifts. When you hear that third explosion you can’t presume that the ship will stay afloat.
In a lot of the discussion about race, you hear that you can’t possibly imagine what this or that is like.
Actually, just about all of us can imagine the difference that $840,000 would make in terms of being able to get mortgage on a house.
The number is big in a couple of senses. It’s a large number in terms of the average family’s wealth. And it’s large in terms of consequences: It affects what a family can think about in terms of educating the children and planning for retirement.
I came across the number while reading articles by and about Dr. William A. Darity, a professor at Duke University. Darity is on my list of interesting thinkers whose work I plan to follow.
• Sources: Basic information on Dr. William A. Darity can be found here:
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