The Chicago Urban League released its annual “State of Chicago” report which reveals major disparities between the city’s Black and white residents.
According to the organization’s site, The Chicago Urban League was founded in 1916 to help achieve equity for Black families and communities through social and economic empowerment and was one of the first affiliates of the National Urban League.
This year, the numbers represented not only a significant decrease in the Black population of Chicago but also a clear line of segregation from white residents.
The CUL found that over 80 percent of Chicago’s Black population would need to be relocated for the two groups to be evenly distributed throughout the city, according to the report. With a clear difference between where each race live, the disparities in resources, safety, access, and income will continue to rise.
“If we don’t take the all-hands-on-deck approach, we will continue to see a tale of two cities,” said CUL President and CEO Karen Freeman-Wilson.
“Because, unless you are doing something to help people catch up, other folks will keep making progress; and Black people, Black Chicagoans, will continue to lag behind,” she said.
The median income for Black households in Chicago is less than $36,000 a year, while for White households is more than $82,000, according to the report. The majority of white residents tend to exist in solid middle-class and wealthier neighborhoods that allow them immediate access to a range of Chicago’s amenities.
The differences in earnings and therefore quality of life can also be attributed to unemployment. For Black residents, the unemployment rate is more than 16 percent, for white residents it is just under 11 percent.
With limited resources and lack of access to disposable income, Black residents are not always at liberty to afford higher education. As a result, more than 53 percent of white residents have at least a bachelor’s degree, while the number is just under 23 percent for Black residents.
