Imagine being in a runner’s race, and you are at the starting line of a large oval track, like the Olympic greats have run. The gun goes off with a bang!—It’s time to start running. Yet, you can’t move. You watch competitors run laps around you while you’re stuck in place, bound to the starting line. As other runners are miles into the race, you’re finally able to move your feet, but your lane has hurdles. Add in the weight of having cinder blocks tied to your ankles, instead of running shoes, while your opponents gather advantageous tools along the way, like boosters to help run quicker, or shortcuts helping cut their race distance in half. Not to mention, the race is centuries long.

This analogy very simply describes the wealth gap Black Americans consistently suffer from—widened by inequality and discrimination. I find myself vividly and frequently replaying a conversation between an old acquaintance in which it became very evident to myself just how this vicious cycle is perpetuated. I may have been aware that people of color are at an economic disadvantage, but the talk reminded me I am truly living in a different reality from my “peers.”

I was visiting home my junior year of college. I gathered with a couple of girls I met at my high school job that I still would occasionally hang out with. I was venting to them about my college tuition troubles that were constantly stressing me out, while I also juggled expectations to maintain a path to Honors and a handful of extracurricular commitments. Oh, and all of this, while out of the state.

I confided in them that I had unexpectedly been backed into pulling out yet another loan, this time from my bank, in order to overcome my now hurdle placed in my lane. One of the girls found it appropriate to begin sharing her personal tale of how she could relate. However, her story ended with her accepting the $10,000 her grandmother, who was white, was able to provide because she had saved investment earnings. It was a starkly different reality from my Black grandmother who cleaned at a chicken farm in her earlier years and ran an in-home daycare later on. She would just tell you God provided for her family.

The long journey in overcoming my personal financial hurdles continues, but has improved with time. There are less hurdles on the track this year, thanks to the guidance of my partner, who is also the financial genius in our house. I simply abide by the “yes you can swipe” or the “no you don’t need to go to Target for just one thing.” Thanks to his knowledge and diligence, in February we celebrated an incredible milestone for a young (25 and 30) soon-to-be-married, Black couple. In a span of 11 months and 2 days, we paid off $15,629.51 in debt, leaving us with absolutely no credit card or medical debt.

I know Black people are not entirely constrained to the binds of poverty. I also am aware white people can suffer from economic equalities as well. However, one of those is directly tied to racism. I mean, we live in a country that fails to tell the history of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre; the burning and leveling (and looting) of 35 square blocks of a once-thriving Black neighborhood...once hailed as “Black Wall Street.’



I have been and continue the path to break this cycle. While it may be too late to catch up, people of color can still commit to running a race well and far enough to pass the baton to the next generation who would otherwise suffer the same disadvantages. In order to achieve racial equality, the wealth gap has to close in and unfortunately that gap is mighty large to fill.