My last blog post, Memphis’ Potential Is About Black Memphians Reaching Theirs, spoke to the importance of everyone in our community seeing reality through the eyes of our African American friends, neighbors, and fellow citizens.  In that vein, the following is “The Black Mindset” from the National Urban League’s The Pulse of Black America: The Complexities Of Black Pain And Black Pride Define The Black Experience.

Conducted by Benenson Strategy Group, the Pulse of Black America survey is based on nearly 1,700 interviews conducted in March of this year.  “If the Equality Index (Urban League’s annual report) measures the share of the American economic pie Black Americans gets compared to whites, then the Pulse of Black America survey unpacks the feelings and frustrations of Black people who will never get that last slice of pie,” wrote Shannon-Janean Currie, the BSG Vice President who conceived of and led the research.  The survey revealed a Black America ravaged by a deadly pandemic and beset by economic despair, yet still optimistic in the promise that “we shall overcome.”

Here’s what they heard:

The Black Mindset

Rising costs and inflation are a concern for all Americans, but for Black America, the emotional wear and tear of historical inequities is a deeply personal economic pain point in their day-to-day lives. For them, getting ahead is almost impossible, and maintaining the status quo is a juggling act of high risks and low rewards. Even when following the same blueprint of academic and professional achievement outlined by White America, Black Americans feel they are still denied the keys to unlocking longer-term middle-class success.

The pandemic has only exacerbated what already felt like insurmountable barriers, leaving the Black community vulnerable and bogged down by the weight of economic despair. Despite many working throughout the pandemic as essential workers and first responders, the economic consequences of losing their jobs, homes, or health insurance are top-of-mind looming threats for many families living on the brink of poverty.

For Black America, the math doesn’t add up. How can they make the same investments and sacrifices as their White counterparts and always come up short? Almost half of Black households – even amongst those with college degrees – are worried about not being able to put food on the table, having to dip into their savings to pay bills, and or having to take on debt they can’t afford to pay back. How is it possible for a Black person and a White person to have the same education and occupation, and yet the Black person still ends up two steps behind? Why is the Black person in that scenario the one worried about losing their job or being passed over for a promotion they deserve?

Parents are making sacrifices and investments today, with hopes they can provide their children in the opportunity to have just a little more than they did, but it seems that no amount of hard work or strategic financial planning can bring the tantalizing fruits of the American dream within reach.

In the same way that White wealth and privilege is passed down from generation to generation, Blacks inherit the struggles and strife of an entire race, carrying the pressure of achieving the dreams unfulfilled and opportunities denied the previous generation.

And yet, still optimistic. Despite centuries of oppression and combating ideas that people of color are inherently inferior, the faith and hope that one day “we shall overcome” is the ultimate expression of their belief in American freedoms and rights. Fifty years since the Civil Rights Movement and ten years since the murder of Trayvon Martin, the real promise of equity has yet to be fulfilled, and young Blacks are growing frustrated with the rate of change. Beliefs and behaviors are hard to shift, and while progress has been made, the biases of today manifest in more subtle forms of systemic suppression.

Resilient and self-reliant, Black Americans take no pride in hand outs, but do acknowledge that they need a hand-up to correct decades of systemic racism and wealth inequities. But no amount of wealth, education, or upward mobility can inoculate Black Americans from the cultural, fiscal, and psychological trauma they all must endure.

Pragmatic and hopeful, hardworking and vulnerable, the complexities of Black pain and Black pride define the Black experience.