Brown at 50: Still Separate and Unequal, Part 2b

[See the Introduction to this series, as well as the first part of this post.]

CHILDHOOD POVERTY

The struggle to dismantle legal segregation began out of a consideration of the lives and welfare of children, so it is particularly poignant to consider the current situation of children in the US when examining poverty. This takes a little more effort consulting the US Census Bureau tables for those below 200% of the poverty threshold (which is the definition of in or near poverty).

• Children (people under 18) make up 25% of the total US population, but 32% of the population in or near poverty.
  
• 26%-34% of White children (depending on race definitions) are in or near poverty.
  
• 59%-60% of Black children are in or near poverty.
  
• 62% of Hispanic children are in or near poverty.
  
• 30%-32% of Asian children are in or near poverty.
  
• 60%-79% of all children in the US are White, but only 41%-71% of poor children in the US are White.
  
• Only 16%-17% of all children in the US are Black, but 24%-25% of poor children in the US are Black.
  
• Only 18% of all children in the US are Hispanic, but 29% of poor children in the US are Hispanic.
  
• 4% of all children in the US are Asian, but only 3% of poor children in the US are Asian.

The National Center for Children in Poverty gathers information about and advocates for the welfare of poor children. They provide additional demographics (based on Census data) among their various fact sheets:

• Many low-income parents in the U.S. are employed.
  
• In the U.S., parents with limited education are more likely to be low-income.
  
• Low-income families in the U.S. are more likely to be headed by a single parent.
  
• In the United States, young children [under age 6] are more likely to live in low-income families.