When you look at the wealth gap and the way that it impacts Black Americans buying power, black Americans ability to participate in the economy, to grow the economy, to open businesses, to create jobs, in the last 30 years it has sapped $51 trillion dollars from the gross national product. That affects everyone from those buying groceries to wall street investors.” So, if everyone understood that there’s money to made here, not just for black people, but for everyone, then maybe more people, perhaps everyone, would be more interested in finding solutions to the racial wealth gap.

What is the racial wealth gap?

Although the term "racial wealth gap" technically refers to the difference in assets owned by different racial or ethnic groups, this gap results from a range of economic factors that affect the overall economic well-being of these different groups. The term reflects disparities in access to opportunities, means of support, and resources. The racial wealth gap is the largest of the economic disparities between Black and white Americans, with a white-to-Black per capita wealth ratio of 6 to 1. It is also among the most persistent.

Bias and discrimination can be difficult subjects to discuss. But there are very good reasons to get past our discomfort and talk about these important issues. Some of the most damaging forms of discrimination are the result of deep-seated, destructive generalizations about a certain group. In such cases, people harbor unrealistic, disparaging beliefs about a group and its members while also maintaining a sense of the moral or intellectual superiority of their own group. These individuals are consciously aware of their negative emotions toward members of the group and intend to harm, disadvantage, or avoid them

Trauma is any experience that is deeply distressing or disturbing. Trauma overwhelms our ability to cope and undermines our sense of safety. Trauma can cause us to feel powerless and hopeless relative to our capacity to defend ourselves. It can rob us of the belief in our ability to heal, trust, live, and love as we once did, before a traumatic experience occurred. On today’s episode, we are discussing weaponizing trauma and the trouble of unhealed wounds.

The Model Minority is a minority demographic (whether based on ethnicity, race or religion) whose members are perceived as achieving a higher degree of socioeconomic success than the population average, thus serving as a reference group to outgroups. So, basically, a model minority is viewed as doing everything ‘right’. This success is typically measured by educational attainment, representation in managerial and professional occupations, and household income, along with other socioeconomic indicators such as low criminality and high family/marital stability.

Colorism is discrimination, prejudice, and bigotry, based on skin tone and color. Historically and even today, studies show that lighter skinned people often receive better treatment and representation than darker skinned people in criminal justice, business, the economy, housing, health care, media, the education system, and politics in the United States and Europe.

Code Switching is when a person (usually a person in an underrepresented group) adjusts the way that they talk depending on cultural context. It usually applies to speaking but it can also apply to other behaviors such as changes in their appearance or expressions, known as behavioral code-switching. These changes to their speech or appearance are done in order to fit into the more dominant culture, and in this podcast, I’m speaking of white culture. And this discussion is regarding what some Black people do around White people. And I say some because not all Black people are code-switching when they speak in a more proper manner. There are Black people who were raised around mostly white if not all white people. They were educated by white teachers and their lived experiences included a dominant presence of white people and their culture.

So, why do some Black people feel the pressure to Code Switch?

Juneteenth consisting of the words “June” and “nineteenth,” stands as the oldest celebration of Black emancipation in the United States. To this day, the occasion marks the progress of the United States from legally approving race-based chattel slavery to legally abolishing it after centuries of resistance, the initiation of the nation’s bloodiest war, and a constitutional amendment. It was June 19, 1865, and although the Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved people more than two years earlier. Juneteenth is a day for Black Americans to celebrate freedom.