On this episode of Broke-ish, Delina and Erika discuss the fake Black Middle Class. But why is it fake? What factors determine if you are in the middle class? Discover all the reasons why today, we’re living under a middle-class illusion.

Homework

Are you middle class?

• Middle Class Calculator – Pew Research
• The 3Ms:
  • Money (economic resources)
  • Milestones (education, career, etc.)
  • Mama’nem (culture, social access, etc.)

The Receipts (Show Notes)

The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Wealth Divide is Hollowing Out America’s Middle Class

Authors: Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chuck Collins, Josh Hoxie, Emanuel Nieves

Date: September 2017

• Median household wealth for Black families = $1,700
• Median household wealth for white families = $116,000
• The median black family is estimated to have $0 in wealth by the year 2053

 

Everybody Thinks They’re Middle Class (Bloomberg)

Author: Sam Grobart

Date: September 15, 2016

 

Why Americans All Believe They Are 'Middle Class' (The Atlantic)

Author: Anat Shenker-Osorio

Date: August 1, 2013

 

The American Middle Class Is Losing Ground (Pew Research Center)

Author: Pew Research Center

Date: December 9, 2015

 

Are you in the American middle class? Find out with our income calculator (Pew Research Center)

Authors: Richard Fry and Rakesh Kochhar

Date: September 6, 2018

 

The richest 1 percent now owns more of the country’s wealth than at any time in the past 50 years (The Washington Post)

Author: Christopher Ingraham

Date: December 6, 2017

 

Defining the middle class: Cash, credentials, or culture? (Brookings Institute)

Authors: Richard V. Reeves, Katherine Guyot and Eleanor Krause

Date: Monday, May 7, 2018

• Cash (what’s in your bank account)
• Credentials (what’s on your resume)
• Culture (what’s inside your head)

 

African Americans and the New Deal

 

New Deal Programs

 

Unions Helped Build the Black Middle Class. The Wealthy's Political Lackeys Are Out to Gut It. (Colorlines)

Author: Rashad Robinson

Date: March 2, 2018

 

The Warmth of Other Suns

Author: Isabel Wilkerson

Date: 2010

 

How much you have to earn to be considered middle class in every US state (Business Insider)

Author: Libby Kane

Date: April 2, 2015

 

Which Income Class Are You? (Investopedia)

Author: Jake Frankenfield

Date: October 5, 2018

 

Against All Odds: The Fight for a Black Middle Class (PBS)

 

Black Women's Equal Pay Day

equalpaytoday.org