Northern Trust Survey “Wealth in Black America” finds Generational Differences Attitudes about Wealth Preservation and Wealth Transfer Differ

CHICAGO – October 8, 2008 – Young affluent Blacks are more worried about wealth preservation than their older counterparts, according to “Wealth in Black America,” Northern Trust’s first annual survey of affluent Black households in the United States, including African-Americans and Blacks of other origins. Three in four Generations X & Y wealthy respondents (ages 18-42) said they are concerned about preserving their wealth, while less than half of respondents in the Boomer and Silent Generations  (ages 43 and above) shared this concern. 

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BY LEILONI DE GRUY & OLU ALEMORU, Wave Newspaper Staff Writers

Millions have been galvanized by the election of President-elect Barack Obama, and L.A. backers vow to sustain the momentum for change.

More than a week after an historic election that saw the United States elect its first African-American president, some of the euphoria has subsided as President-elect Barack Obama turns his attention away from campaigning and toward building a new government.

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African American men wonder if the wider culture will finally start to see them as true equals or if the president-elect will just be seen as yet another exception.

By Carla Hall and Marjorie Miller (LA Times)

Hakeem Holloway may be a classically trained musician who has played with orchestras around the world, but when he crosses an L.A. city street wearing his typical uniform of jeans and a hoodie, white women have been known to eye him, a black man, and clutch their purses more tightly to their sides. 

Frank Gilliam, the dean of UCLA’s School of Public Affairs, sometimes flies first class. When he does, white passengers often ask Gilliam, who is black, if he’s a record producer — if they talk to him at all.

Even as millions of black Americans revel in Barack Obama’s victory and plan trips to his inauguration that are turning into pilgrimages, many still wonder if this transformative moment in American politics will truly transform perceptions of black men. How much, if at all, they ask, will Obama’s victory shatter that glass ceiling?

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In this article from Fortune.com, the author argues that people making between $250,000 and $500,000 are not “rich.”  He calls these people HENRYS (High Earners Not Rich Yet).  What do you consider “rich?”  $100,000?  $500,000?  $1 million?

Obama and the congressional Democrats frequently refer to households earning over $250,000 as the “rich” and the “wealthiest Americans.” But whether the HENRYs are truly “rich,” or ever will be, is debatable. In Fortune’s interviews with two dozen HENRYs from Charlotte to Concord, Calif., what emerged was a portrait of families a world away from the private jets, luxury vacation homes, and heated garages with Bentleys and Porsches lined up headlight to headlight that typically represent America’s vision of “rich.”

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by Femi Ajetunmobi

And I cried!

I saw Jesse Jackson in the crowd weeping. I saw Oprah Winfrey sobbing in the crowd on the shoulders of strangers. I saw the young and the old, blacks and whites and coloreds, rich and poor, famous and the unknowns, holding hands and hugging, screaming and crying, all at the same time, completely overwhelmed by the enormity of the moment. I held my emotions in check during all these. I saw people celebrating in Sydney, Australia. I saw people jumping up and down in Nairobi, Kenya. I saw people displaying unmitigated joy in Hong Kong. From the East coast to the West coast, from North America to Africa, every one recognized the significance of the moment. Still, I held my emotions in check.

Never before have I seen so many people gathered in one place – like they did in Grant Park, Chicago, that night – reveling in the magic of the moment. Never before have I seen the world come together in the moment – like we all did on Tuesday night – to celebrate a night that would be talked about from generations to generations and for centuries until the end of time. It was one of those moments that we would all be able to say, years down the line, that we knew exactly where we were when Barack Hussein Obama was elected the first black leader of the free world!

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The right to marry does nothing to address the problems faced by both black gays and black straights.

by Jasmyne A. Cannick

I am a perfect example of why the fight against Proposition 8, which amends the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage, failed to win black support. 

I am black. I am a political activist who cares deeply about social justice issues. I am a lesbian. This year, I canvassed the streets of South Los Angeles and Compton, knocking on doors, talking politics to passers-by and working as I never had before to ensure a large voter turnout among African Americans. But even I wasn’t inspired to encourage black people to vote against the proposition.

Why? Because I don’t see why the right to marry should be a priority for me or other black people. Gay marriage? Please. At a time when blacks are still more likely than whites to be pulled over for no reason, more likely to be unemployed than whites, more likely to live at or below the poverty line, I was too busy trying to get black people registered to vote, period; I wasn’t about to focus my attention on what couldn’t help but feel like a secondary issue. 

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Eugene Allen, 89, a retired White House butler, tries on his old tuxedo for a photo. Allen, who served eight presidents during a period when America’s racial history was being rewritten, is marveling at the election of Barack Obama.

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