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POLITICS + MONEY
These High Gas Prices Fan the Flames of America’s Racial Wealth Gap
Can we stop acting like paying high gas prices is our patriotic duty? It’s not
The rising cost of gas and food is not impacting Americans equally because White people have most of the wealth in this country. That’s not hyperbole — it’s a fact. According to the Federal Reserve, “White households hold 86.8 percent of overall wealth.” So, as prices for basic necessities increase, many White families have the extra capital to weather the storm, but most Black families don’t. As a result, rising gas prices are fanning the flames of the racial wealth gap. And since 64% of Americans live check-to-check, we need to extinguish the talking point that paying high prices at the pump is our patriotic duty — it’s not.
If prices continue to rise, traveling across town may become a privilege afforded only to the wealthy, and that’s a problem since on average, Americans travel 27.6 minutes to work. Moreover, Black families were twice as likely as White families to need stimulus checks just to “get by.” But now those stimulus payments dried up like a raisin in the sun and legislation to raise the minimum wage failed in the Senate last year, it’s clear that at the wealthy get wealthier, the poorer get poorer. And…
