The Civil Rights Generation, the Great Wealth Transfer and Our Need to Address the Racial Wealth Divide

Joint Center President Dedrick Asante-Muhammad and Senior Researcher Dr. LaToya Parker co-authored an essay published in the American Society on Aging’s Generations Now segment. The essay, titled “The Civil Rights Generation, the Great Wealth Transfer and Our Need to Address the Racial Wealth Divide,” focuses on the nation’s largest intergenerational wealth transfer of an estimated $124 trillion passing to heirs. The piece emphasizes that unless profound changes are made in tax policy, this transfer will reinforce the concentration of wealth that has defined the U.S. economy for the past 40 years.

From the essay: “The hard reality is that the intergenerational transfer of wealth will largely be passed down within wealthy white families, not across the racial wealth divide. White households hold nearly 84 [percent] of total household wealth in the United States, compared to just 3.4 [percent] for Black households. That means the trillions of dollars now set to pass between generations will replicate, rather than dismantle existing hierarchies.”

Click here to read the essay.