“Two Americas, Separate and Unequal” !   These are words from the Kerner Commission Report describing the wealth gap between whites and people of color as one of the major causes of unrest in the 60’s. The admonition haunts us today as a new study is released from the Pew Research Center on July 26, 2011, titled Wealth Gaps Rise to Record Highs Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics

The study examines the effect of the great recession of 2009 along racial/ethnic lines and its findings, including the following, are disturbing: “These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups [(whites, blacks and Hispanics)] for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.”

Specific points of concern include:
• The average net worth of a white household in America was $113,149 compared to $5,677 for African Americans and $6,325 for Hispanics.
• The net worth of Asian families fell from $168,103 in 2005 to $78,066 in 2009, a drop of 54%
• The net worth of Hispanic households decreased from $18,359 in 2005 to $6,325 in 2009. The percentage drop—66%—was the largest among all groups.
• The net worth of black households fell from $12,124 in 2005 to $5,677 in 2009, a decline of 53%.
• The net worth of white families was nearly 20 times that of African Americans and nearly 18 times that of Hispanics.
• The disparities within each racial/ethnic group continued to grow with wealth becoming more concentrated–the wealth of the top 10% of each group grew while the wealth of all others fell.

With the strong link link between economic inequality and poor economic growth, all Americans should stand up and take notice.