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IRONY: RISING ECONOMY INCREASES POVERTY FOR DC BLACKS: Data suggest same could happen in other cities.
Over the last decade Washington, D.C. has been undergoing an economic boom which ironically appears to have made the nation's capital whiter and whiter while increasing numbers of Blacks remaining in the city have become poorer and poorer.
In 1957, Washington, D.C. became the first major American city to achieve a majority Black population. By 1970, the African American percentage of the city's population had reached 70 percent.
However, according to 2006 Census data the percentage has now declined to 57 percent. Meanwhile, in a report released last week by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute, nearly one of every Black five residents of the city lives in poverty - the highest percentage in nearly a decade.
In addition, employment among Black residents has been falling since the 1980s despite the economic boom which has primarily benefited whites. Some 51 percent of Black adults in the city were employed in 2006. This compares to 62 0percent in 1988.
Analysts fear the gentrification of Washington, D.C. which has left Blacks behind may be a harbinger of what will occur in other major cities as they redevelop.
Fiscal Policy Institute Executive Director Ed Lazere said "You sort of hope that when the economy is getting better that everyone gets at least a little bit better." But he admitted being surprised to discover that development was not taking place across all socio-economic levels.
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source: Taylor Media Services
