Who among us hasn’t chuckled at the money miscues of Black folk? We’ve all seen the brother pushing a set of rims worth more than his car, or the sister sporting the latest handbag but scrambling to make the rent.
But sometimes the clowning and laughing at these miscues turns to concern, and the concern to despair. My heart actually aches when I see young brothers and sisters clad from head to toe in Gucci because they’ve bought into a lifetime of bondage, a new form of financial slavery.
When was the last time the executives at Prada, Mercedes, Lexus, or Coach invested one red dime in the Black community? Yet, so many of us rush to place ourselves in financial shackles just to sport their logos.
At the same time it’s completely understandable. We live in a society that continually denigrates us, that makes us feel less beautiful, less intelligent, and less competent. Why not purchase a modicum of self-respect, even if we can’t really afford it?
An elderly African-American woman lamented to me recently that Blacks will never build economic power like other ethnic groups. “We’re still feeling the effects of slavery,” she claimed. “We’re trying to purchase validation.”
Now perhaps there’s some truth to this. Maybe we are nursing some historical psychological wound treated temporarily with band-aids of consumerism.
But I’ve always been one to point the blame for our financial predicaments on poor social policies. Young Black children are forced to endure the worst of the American educational system and suffer overwhelming poverty that stifles their ability to excel.
Tax policies favor those who already have wealth, like homeowners, stockholders, and small business owners. Add to it discrimination in housing, credit access, and employment and it’s no wonder that the median wealth for white families in 2007 was $100,000, and only a paltry $5,000 for Black families.
But, at what point does personal responsibility play some part in the Black/White wealth gap? Bill Cosby faced a full-on frontal assault when he blamed Black parents for buying $500 sneakers while being unwilling to pay $200 for Hooked on Phonics.
Using data from the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Consumer Expenditure Survery, researchers discovered that Blacks and Hispanics spend up to 30% more on visible goods like clothing, cars, and jewelry than Whites with similar incomes.
Perhaps the cost of psychological band-aids is greater than we ever imagined.
BMWK, what’s your take? Is the poor financial state of Black America due to poor public policy or to poor personal choices? Is the belief that African-Americans spend excessively to seek validation fallacy or fact?