Is economics the new racism?

Something for affirmative action opponents to remember:

Blacks losing ground financially, study finds
Gap with whites grows despite improved national economy
By Larry Copeland USA
TODAY

Despite a rebounding economy, African-Americans are not making progress in achieving income, net worth, employment and homeownership levels equal to those of whites, according to a National Urban League report to be released today.

Blacks have just 56% of the economic status of whites, a slip of 1 percentage point from last year, according to the civil rights organization's annual “The State of Black America” report. “The economic status of African-Americans is getting worse,” Urban League President Marc Morial says. “If things are stagnant in a growing economy … then we've got to say that progress is seriously lacking. … America is not America when millions of our citizens are still viewed as a fraction of a person.”

The sharpest economic disparity between black and whites is in median net worth, according to the report, which compiles data from many government sources, including the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The median net worth for African-American families — half have more, half less — is less than one-tenth of the median for white families. That gap is driven largely by differences in homeownership. More than 70% of white families own their homes, compared with about 50% of blacks, the report says.

The unemployment rate for blacks is 10%, compared with 4.4% for whites. One promising finding in the report: The rate of black-owned businesses compared with white-owned ones is growing.