United States – President Joe Biden noted with pride the accomplishments of his administration in closing America’s most persistent racial wealth gap, a major source of social and economic inequality, during his address to civil rights activist Reverend Al Sharpton’s conference on racial justice held in New York on Friday.
Contrasting Administration Policies
Biden, who tried to gain more support from black voters before he faced the upcoming November elections against Donald Trump Republicans, compared his administration policies with Republican efforts to cut down funding racial equity programs, Medicaid healthcare, and social security, as reported by Reuters.
“Black wealth is up 60% … and the racial wealth gap has closed the most in 20 years. You know, I would argue this is transformational change. But we know there’s much more work to do,” Biden told participants in a virtual speech.
He asserted that black Americans and other minority community groups usually experienced the brunt of threats such as voter suppression, election breaches, moves to reverse reproduction rights and political violence.
Federal Initiatives and Impact on Wealth Disparities
“There are more extreme voices out there who simply don’t want to see people of color in the future of our country,” he said. “These extremists are determined to erase the progress we’ve made. But together, we are determined to make history, not erase it.”
Per the data recently released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the White House stated that the appraisal gap experienced by majority white communities and communities of color declined by 40% after the agency started its fight against what he called appraisal bias.
The home survey is only one factor that keeps the long-term wealth gap fuelled by federal and local policies on employment, housing, and even road construction.
Specific data shows it deteriorates regardless of what Biden does to save it.
Using inflation-adjusted measures revealed for white households that the income growth rate in the U.S. in 2019-2021 was higher than among black and Hispanic families, the worst position of whom was seen in the third quarter of last year, as reported in the study of the New York Fed in February.
Mixed Response and Continued Efforts
In the 2020 election, Biden had about 92% Black vote support. Still, Black Americans’ backing is uncertain now that a Pew Research Center poll in January showed approximately 49% of Black voters disapproved of his performance in the office.
Biden unveiled a historic achievement: He reported that 12.1% of the federal contracting gross was given to small, disadvantaged businesses during fiscal year 2023, which is USD 76.2 billion, coming very close to his 15% target for such contracts by 2025, as reported by Reuters.
White House economists argue that eliminating the gaps in ownership in business will help reduce the racial wealth gap.