Cause [slavery, oppression] and Effect: Survey Finds a Vast Wealth Gap in Massachusetts; the Median Net Wealth for White Families is $549,200 but Only $7,800 for Black Families ($1,200 for Latinos)

From [HERE] Massachusetts families held a median net wealth of more than $370,000 last year, according to a new study that found this metric varies dramatically across key factors like race, age, educational attainment, homeownership and place of residence.

Just over a third of families also said they would be unable to cover a $400 emergency expense such as car repairs or an illness with cash or “its equivalent” in 2025, according to the report released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. 

The Boston Fed worked with The Boston Foundation — plus the Barr Foundation, Eastern Bank Foundation and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce — on the Massachusetts Economic Conditions and Household Opportunity Survey that captures household assets and debts, and whether Bay Staters have sufficient wealth reserves to cope with “unstable prices or unexpected expenses.” Sent to 32,817 randomly selected Massachusetts addresses, the survey yielded 5,018 responses. 

The survey highlighted long-standing racial wealth gaps.

White families had an estimated median net wealth of $549,200, compared to $305,000 for Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander families. Median net wealth was just $1,200 for Hispanic families and $7,800 for Black families. About 41% of Hispanic families and 31% of Black families held zero or negative net wealth.

“Having wealth is the ability to financially navigate an unexpected job loss, a serious illness, or buy and/or maintain a home,” Barr Foundation CEO Ali Noorani said. “It is the difference between one’s ability to live to their fullest potential and a trajectory that mires them in debt.” [MORE]

It takes a profound denial to not see the vast unequal power and disparity between white and Black people. Yet, most white folks don’t recognize it as a problem.

The insightful Black political scientist Mack Jones made the obvious logical statement, “An elementary rule of causal analysis says that the cause must exist prior to the effect.” He said vast racial disparity in all measures of socioeconomic well being dates back directly to emancipation from physical slavery. But, he observed, in any analysis of “race” you often must indulge in non-logic, “clogic,” and frivolous concepts because the normal rules of logic don’t apply.