This allowed many Black Americans to get jobs and played a major role in the country’s war effort. As a result of the boom, the number of unemployed black Americans fell from 937,000 to 152,000. 48% of the black population was urban at the end of the war and jobs in the cities paid more than those in the country allowing Black Americans to be paid more than ever before. This shows an improvement of the position of Black Americans in society. Voting rights were also improved during this time period.
Los Angeles is often referred to as the “gang capital of North America” home to some of the world’s most notorious gangs. It is houses over 400 separate gangs and an estimated 39,000 gang members, while LA county has more than 1300 street gangs with over 150,000 members. These gangs have the power to affect the way Los Angeles is arranged demographically. The majority of Los Angeles’s gang population is African-American and Hispanic. Los Angeles’ neighborhood demography is constantly changing due to a gradual change in gang culture overtime from the 1940s through 1965 and the 1970s through the present.
According to Kozol, one of the main causes of homelessness in the 1980s was the vast reduction in affordable housing. Kozol explains that “gentrification,” the transformation of a low-rent neighborhood to a more prestigious one, raised rents and pushed the poor into homelessness (433). He states, “Half a million units of low-income housing are lost each year to condominium conversion as well as to arson, demolition, or abandonment” and that rent for lower-income individuals increased more than 30 percent since 1980 (433). Additionally, Kozol claims that almost half of low-income “SRO (single-room occupancy) units” were “replaced by luxury apartments and office buildings between 1970 and 1980” (435). In addition to the reduction in low-income housing, Kozol also argues that there was a severe shortage of employment positions that paid a living wage.
Also, the vast majority of black Americans were disenfranchised by grandfather clauses and literacy tests which made it very hard for black Americans to vote. Finally the Ku Klux Klan terrorised black Americans using techniques such as lynching. By contrast in the Northern States, segregation was rare. What is more, Black Americans has greater access to higher-paid industrial jobs and many were organised in unions. However, on average black workers earned 50% less than their white counterparts.
The poor are disproportionately affected by environmental problems and a recent Associated Press analysis of government data revealed that black Americans are 79% more likely than whites to live in areas where industrial pollution poses the greatest danger. Also “unemployment for African Americans is twice that of non-Hispanic Whites. The average net worth for Blacks is $6,166 compared with $67,000 for Whites. The root of the wealth inequality lies in a past in which African Americans were denied opportunities to accumulate assets. The discrepancies in wealth mean that many African Americans do not benefit from
Marriage in the African American Community Marriage in the African American community is almost null and void. The divorce and separation rate in the African American community is at an all time high. This is to some extent due to the value of marriage in the African American community changing. More and more of African Americans are being raised in single family homes. African American women are not getting married for love anymore.
Minorities In Poverty In New York CITY There are so many minorities living in poverty today in New York city. According to a recent report from the Census Bureau, 2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty in 2010; the 46.2 million people in poverty signaled both "the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published." The report also contained disturbing news regarding the middle class: the New York Times writes that "median household incomes fell last year to levels last seen in 1997." It is becoming even more difficult to raise a family on a low income budget in new York city. The rising poverty rate was most severe for blacks and Hispanics.
How accurate is it to say that the status of black people in the United States changed very little in the years 1945-1955? The position of African Americans before 1945 was very low as they suffered extreme racism in the southern states and discrimination in the north. But the Second World War became a turning point for their lives. In World War II had an enormous impact of the economic aspect in the lives of African Americans. Over 1 million blacks joined the army.
States held an estimated 250,900 drug offenders in 2003. That means it costs states approximately $16,948,295 per day to imprison drug offenders, or $6.1 Billion per year. (American) The French organization OGD points out the deeper economic impact from the eventual release of American drug felons: according to some estimates some 3.5 million prisoners will be released between now and 2010, and an additional 500,000 each year thereafter. “Such a large-scale release of unskilled people - most of them cannot even read and write - will have a negative impact on wages, which are already low in deprived urban areas, due to a massive influx of men desperate to get a job; especially, since the reform of the welfare system in 1996 severely reduced felons’ access to welfare money.
Furthermore, the non-Hispanic Whites population will slightly decline even with the burgeoning elderly population because of healthier lifestyles and improved health care services available. Hispanics are expected to increase by 188% and account for nearly one-quarter of the nation's population although, The United States Census Bureau believes many Hispanics born in America claim Whites on census surveys. Asians, however, are expected to triple to over 33 million by 2050. Historically, America has been a "Black and Whites" country with Blacks accounting for nearly 13% of the current population. By 2050, the Black population will increase roughly 15%, making them the second largest minority group in America.