Data Proves That White Privilege is a Myth

If America is racist, why is it that if you were born white and poor between 1959 and 2018, you were 3 times more likely to remain poor than a black child born in the same period? Let that sink in for a minute. Though not as dramatic, a white child born in America also had a greater chance of remaining poor than a Hispanic child. These are facts from U.S. Census data that cast doubt on the left’s race narrative. 

According to the U.S. Census, EVERY racial group BUT White Americans have shown significant improvement in escaping poverty from 1959 to 2018. Black poverty was at 55% in 1959. Whites started out at 18.8%. By 1968, Black poverty fell 20.3% to 34.7% in 9 years! 9 years while the White poverty rate fell just 8.8% to 10%. Black progress outpaced White progress by 11.5% during the 1960s. Does that sound like a systemically racist America supporting White privilege? In the 50 years from 1968 to 2018, Black poverty fell another 14% to 20.7%… again, not my numbers; U.S. Census numbers. During that same period, the White poverty rate rose slightly to 10.1% in 2018. In fact, White poverty on average was unchanged during the 50 years following 1968. It averages out to a steady 10%. Under Trump, Black and White’s poverty did decrease… but guess what? Both black and white poverty decreased by the same 5.2% from 2018 to 2020. There is NO evidence that systemic racism is creating a system of white privilege in America. You can google “poverty by race 1959 to 2019 U S. Census” right now to verify all of my numbers yourself. 

If there is no economic advantage, there is no white privilege.  If there is no white privilege, there is no systemic racism that creates White privilege. But what about all of the disparities we hear about in the news? I am constantly challenged by disparities numbers as proof of systemic racism. While I assert that racism is not a systemic problem today, not all Americans started off at the same place economically. However, all racial groups, except Whites, are reducing those gaps over time. A poor community takes time, sometimes several generations, to significantly reduce its poverty. Disparities are snapshots in time of where we stand. Disparities do reflect racism. When we look at the reduction of disparities over time, they show that the system is actively eliminating racial disparities over time and has been for decades.

Some disparities are self-inflicted by the Black and Hispanic majority communities. Take the wealth gap. Most people get their wealth from their homes. Home values are controlled by crime level and the quality of the schools. Black and Hispanic wealth is significantly impacted because our minority-majority communities have high crime and poor schools. 

The next time someone tells you that American is racist against you, don’t believe them.