WAGE GAP
Inequality of financial opportunity for minorities in the United States is an issue that both fuels systemic oppression, and is caused by systemic oppression. There is a paradoxical sense in the cyclical causation of this imbalance, as it seems like an insurmountable problem to find a solution for. The daunting task of approaching the solution to this inequality is due to the massive changes in policy that would have to occur to solve it, hence proving how expansive the issue of systemic oppression truly is.
“Unfortunately, wealth in this country is unequally distributed by race - and particularly between white and black households… Less wealth translates into fewer opportunities for upward mobility.”
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/reports/2018/02/21/447051/systematic-inequality/
An upstanding value of the culture of the United States is the belief in upward mobility: one’s ability to gain affluence through hard work and success, climbing the social ladder as high as possible. Like this quote from the Center for American Progress suggests, the opportunities for upward mobility are heavily depended on wealth generation, which has proven to be systematically flawed and racially biased here in the US. The Economic Policy Institute offers statistics on racial wage gaps while relating it back to social factors saying:
“Most families have just barely made up the ground lost over the past decade. In 2017... well-worn patterns of inequality reemerged.”- EPI Senior Economist Elise Gould
https://www.epi.org/press/well-worn-patterns-of-inequality-reemerge-in-census-data-for-2017/
Not only are these wage gaps evident racially, but poverty statistics also seem to suggest racial correlations. Massive debate on the subject of government funded poverty assistance has occured in recent decades, and strife between conflicting parties has lead to poverty stricken families and individuals in more of a hole than ever. Child poverty is of utmost importance as children are not self sufficient. Statistics suggest “...the overall child poverty rate increased 2.0 percentage points between 1976 and 2016. The poverty rate for white children increased 1.0 percentage point over the same period of time, but still remained much lower than the rates for black and Hispanic children.” according to Valerie Wilson and Jessica Schieder of the Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/publication/the-rise-in-child-poverty-reveals-racial-inequality-more-than-a-failed-war-on-poverty/
Financial inequality is a key piece of evidence for the systemic oppression plaguing our nation. This imbalance leads to little possibility of upward mobility for those under financial strain. This then leads to countless opportunities being only available to non-minority groups, while minorities are left to suffer while incurring the countless negative effects of this systemic imbalance.