A new Great Migration: the disappearance of the black middle class

After the great recession of 2008, inequality widened along racial lines as people lost their homes, often their only major asset. Earlier this month the Institute for Policy Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank, reported in “Billionaire Bonanza: The Forbes 400 and the Rest of US,” that the average white family today has net assets of $141,900, compared with the $11,000 for African American families. This hollowing out of the African American family asset base is a nationwide phenomenon that can be explained by the shrinking African American middle class. It’s even more a factor in “strong market” regions like the Bay Area, where housing costs are soaring.

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First Friday at RYSE Center

It was a Friday night in Richmond, and more than 50 teenagers from Kennedy High School and Richmond High School got ready to square off against each other. But instead of fighting, students from their respective schools put their dance moves to the test at the RYSE Center’s launch of their “First Friday” event series.…

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