As Ta-Nehisi Coates and Steve Phillips become the latest in a lineage of black scholar/activists who have worked to push the boundaries of policy discourse about the feasibility of reparations for African Americans, it is important that we not lose sight of existing policies that affect the bottom line of black households.
Social Security is one such policy that has tremendous economic consequences for vulnerable families and provides a good litmus test for where the 2016 presidential candidates stand on the issue of black economic security.
It’s no secret that more than 150 years after the end of slavery, black people — along with Native Americans, Latinos, and certain subgroups of Asian Americans — remain at the bottom of the economic ladder in America; with African Americans and Latinos owning only 6 and 7 cents respectively for every dollar of wealth owned by whites and earning only 67 cents for every dollar of income earned by whites (national data is not available for Native Americans and Asian American subgroups).
– Medium