Minorities’ prosperity vital to ending financial crisis

WASHINGTON — It's been a long, a long time coming.

"Because of what we did on this date, in this election, at this defining moment change has come to America," President-elect Barack Obama said in his victory speech.

As an African-American mother of three children, I've been sporadically crying ever since election night. When I tell my children they can work hard and aspire to any job in this country, that statement is finally, finally true.

But my joy is muted because there's still some change that hasn't come. For large pockets of America's population, prosperity is still an American dream deferred.

Obama will confront the enormous challenge of leading the country out of what is surely a recession. But the road out should be shared by all.

Income for all U.S. households has stagnated. But from income to unemployment to health care to homeownership, Hispanics and African-Americans lag significantly behind whites, according to data compiled by the Center for American Progress.

From 2000 to 2007, Hispanics' median family income declined from $39,935 to $38,679, an annualized average drop of 0.5 percent. Whites' me dian income also decreased during this time but by only $12 (in 2007 dollars). Whites' median family income was $54,920 in 2007, 1.4 times higher than that of Hispanics.

The median income of African-Americans declined by an average of 0.7 percent per year from 2000 to 2007, dropping from $35,720 in 2000 to $34,091 in 2007.

In the second quarter of 2008, the unemployment rate for Hispanics was 7.2 percent while the rate for whites was 4.7 percent. The unemployment rate for African-Americans, almost double that of whites, was 9.1 percent in the second quarter of 2008.

In 2007, 32.1 percent of Hispanics and 19.2 percent of African-Americans didn't have health-care coverage, compared with 10.4 percent of whites.

The homeownership rate for whites in 2007 was 75.2 percent, compared with 49.7 percent for Hispanics and 47.2 percent for African-Americans.

Minorities need better schools, job opportunities and training. They need access to affordable health care so an illness doesn't bankrupt them. We need to find a way to provide reasonably priced homes and mortgages they can afford based on their net incomes.

I know there are some folks of all races who don't want to work hard and are happy with handouts. But that description doesn't fit most of those at the bottom. They want their own slice of the pie, earned by expanding the pie with their own hard work, not by slicing away someone else's wealth.

"Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers," Obama said on election night.

Economically speaking, many minorities are not living on Main Street, but their prosperity is just as vital to ending this country's financial crisis.

With Obama's victory comes a chance to make change, "and that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were," the president-elect said.

Michelle Singletary welcomes comments and column ideas but cannot offer specific personal financial advice. Readers can write to her c/o The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071, or e-mail her at .