For decades, the political world and it’s minions have profited off of the myth that Black folks are poor, beat down, and broken. While poverty rates tend to be a bit higher in minority communities, starting from OUR own media we tend to look over our steady economic growth. While I can appreciate people like Tavis Smiley for taking the time to spotlight the poor in this country, I have yet to see people like him place an equal emphasis on Black success–especially his own. Why is that?
The truth is that stories of perceived injustice sells…big time. Actually, let me be more specific. Stories that ignores the fact that despite America’s imperfections we continue to rise economically sells. Don’t believe me? Next time you are in Facebook, look at how many stories about injustice get posted and reposted by many of your Black friends (compare that to the rate of positive stories that get passed along). Bottom line, America works for all people–especially Black people. And there is a whole industry out there dedicated to tell you different.
According to the report, consumer trends include:
•With a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually, if Blacks were a country, they’d be the 16th largest country in the world.
•The number of Black households earning $75,000 or higher grew by almost 64 percent, a rate close to 12 percent greater than the change in the overall population’s earning between 2000 and 2009. This continued growth in affluence, social influence and household income will continue to impact the community’s economic power.
•Blacks make more shopping trips than all other groups, but spend less money per trip. Blacks in higher income brackets, also spend 300 percent more in higher end retail grocers more than any other high-income household.
•There were 23.9 million active Black Internet users in July 2011—76 percent of whom visited a social networking/blog site.
•Thirty-three percent of all Blacks own a smart phone.
• Black Americans use more than double the amount of mobile phone voice minutes compared to whites—1,298 minutes a month vs. 606.
•The percentage of Blacks attending college or earning a degree has increased to 44 percent for men and 53 percent for women.
African-Americans have experienced a transition in the mix of household incomes over the last census cycle. The transition is marked by an increase in higher earning households. Specifically,between 2000 and 2009, the number of households earning $75,000 or more grew by 63.9%, a rate 11.7% greater than the change in the overall population. Additionally, the percentage of households earning $50,000 or less has decreased, representing a full shift upward in the income of the overall community. The combination of a growing population and higher household income reflects the opportunity to access an increasing number of consumers with a buying power of nearly $1 trillion annually and projected to reach $1.1 trillion by 2015—due to trends in education and a rising number of professional African-American women in the work force. 64% of African American women are in the U.S. labor force compared to 60% of non-African American women.
