A new study of U.S. census data reveals that wealth gaps between whites and minorities in the United States have grown to their widest levels since the U.S. government began tracking them a quarter-century ago. White Americans now have on average 20 times the net worth of African Americans and 18 times that of Latinos. According to the Pew Research Center, the gaps were compounded during the housing bust and the subsequent recession, and essentially wiped out much of the economic progress made by people of color over the past 20 years. We discuss the center’s study with Roderick Harrison, sociologist and demographer, and former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau. “Any hopes or aspirations, particularly based solely on Obama’s election, that we had reached some kind of post-racial state were close to delusional,” says Harrison. “This report is pointing to just how much the socioeconomic inequalities have been exacerbated by the recession and poor economy.”

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The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies has scheduled a webinar today to focus on the challenges facing African Americans and other people of color, and particularly their concerns that measures related to the debt ceiling debate could exacerbate already high unemployment and undermine short-term and long-term economic prospects.

Journalists who dial in will have the opportunity to question members of two panels – the first of which will be comprised of a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, the White House National Economic Council and leading national economists and will examine the details and projected impact of the negotiated agreement that Congress will vote on.  The second panel will delve further into the agreement’s program reductions on members of vulnerable populations and on both discretionary and entitlement programs that they rely upon.

White Americans now have more than 20 times the wealth of the average black household and 18 times more wealth than that of Latino household, according to a study released Monday by the Pew Research Center.

The wealth gap between blacks and whites continues to grow, the study found, and is now the widest in 25 years.

The study confirmed what many already knew — the “Great Recession” has wreaked havoc on the nation’s must vulnerable communities.

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