Closing the Black-White Economic Gap

Indianapolis Recorder - NATIONAL NEWS: Shortly after the defeat of the bill that included the minimum wage increase, Congressional Black Caucus member Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), expressed her disappointment. "It is unacceptable that the Republican Majority in the House will vote today to give a tax cut to the heirs of millionaires while blocking an increase in the minimum wage for millions of hardworking Americans," said Lee. "This Republican-controlled Congress already approved an average tax cut of $42,000 this year to those making more than a million dollars annually. Instead of rewarding the hard work of Americans struggling to make ends meet, Republicans are hard at work making sure the heirs of the wealthy few get an enormous tax break." House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement last week, "At the same time as energy prices are going up, the minimum wage has not been increased in nine years; it is still $5.15 an hour. People can hardly afford to fill up their car to get to work at $5.15 an hour. In our discussion on this issue in the last couple of days, Democrats are saying to the Speaker, Mr. Speaker, until there is an increase in the minimum wage, we will not support any raise in congressional salaries."

Democrats think that raising the minimum wage will decrease the economic gap between Whites and Blacks. I'm not opposed to raising the minimum wage, but it won't go to the core of this problem.

The real issues are education and globalization.

Blacks need to make a cultural transformation so that they value education, and hence get better jobs. For example, they need to stop stigmatizing Black kids who do well in school as "acting white." They need to discourage their children from spending most of their lives on the basketball court. This transformation is easier said than done. Still, this is what is needed. A raise in the minimum wage won't affect this.

Globalization is a problem that affects us all, Black and White. For example, computer programming is now outsourced to India. So, the wages of computer programmers are lowered in the United States. Plus, there are fewer computer-programming jobs here.

Globalization is a fact. We can't roll back the clock on this one. What can we do about it? I have no idea.

What I do know is that we must be resilient. We will make some sort of adjustment where we can benefit. For example, we can become the users of outsourcing. We can form companies that send work overseas.

Other adjustments will be: creating new technologies, new business concepts, and new kinds of services. We are not just competing with the boys and girls on the block anymore—we are up against Wall Mart, India, China, and the rest of the world. It is important, though, not to lose hope. There are ways to get around this, and even to thrive with it.