There’s been some real progress
America has come a long way from the days of Jim Crow in the South and redlining in the North, but it’s not quite there yet. And whatever progress America has made is due in large part to Martin Luther King Jr. His dream of a country no longer divided by the color of our skins is a dream we all took up as our own.
His political child, then, is Barack Obama. A man both black and white; both country and city; both deliriously educated and certain of the decency of man. In power, this belief was tested day after day by both sides of the aisle. Now, we’re, greeted by President-elect Donald Trump, who will be taking this country’s highest office in a few days time. In many respects, a profoundly decent man has been replaced by someone who’s decency varies wildly, depending on who you ask.
There’s still mass incarceration—where the freest nation in the world is also the nation most likely to steal it away—among other things. There’s also been a string of prominent police shootings that have rattled the confidence of communities all over the United States. From Ferguson, Missouri to Cleveland, Ohio. The result has been protests, marching, outrage, and antagonism. This is affecting the whole country. According to WalletHub, a Pew Research Center survey finds, “Nearly half of U.S. voters (46%) expect Trump’s election to lead to worse race relations … By contrast, after Obama’s election eight years ago, 52% of voters expected race relations to improve.”
So in honor of Martin Luther King Day, WalletHub’s researchers set about trying to measure “the gaps between blacks and whites in 16 key indicators of equality and integration for each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.” With a data set that covers median annual income, voter turnout, and standardized test scores. You can find the methodology here, but we’ll keep it simple: the bluer the state the more integrated or progressive the state, the less blue the less integrated or progressive the state.
They were thorough in their examination. Not only did they plot methodically the wealth divide between races, but they also garnered a slew of experts to explain the findings. Their methodology was deceptively simple. On a 100-point scale, with 100 being the highest – most integrated or progressive, they measured for employment and wealth, education and civic engagement, and health. They judged racial integration by subtracting the values between whites and blacks on a given metric. For progress, they did the same thing.
Here’s what they found:
In terms of racial integration, this maps ranks how integrated states are around the country.
Top 10 states for integration as measured by Wallet Hub
For the rest of the table, head over to WalletHub.
They’ve also created a map that ranks how far states have come to create equitable racial financial progress.
Top 10 states for racial progress by Wallethub
For the rest of the table, head over to WalletHub.
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