A Federal Reserve Bank of New York report for June showed that Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by inflation. | Adobe Stock
A Federal Reserve Bank of New York report for June showed that Blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately affected by inflation. | Adobe Stock
DaQuawn Bruce, an opinion contributor for USA Today, recently made the argument that the high rates of inflation, which many people blame the Biden administration and Democrats for, disproportionately affect people of color in North Carolina and nationwide.
With inflation at 9.1% and things looking like they could get worse, many Black Americans who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020, are slowly beginning to lean away from his administration, Bruce wrote in a USA Today article July 19.
"The reasons why inflation hits Black and brown people harder than others is simple,” Bruce stated. “We have less money on average than other groups, and we spend more of the money we do have on things that are affected the most by inflation.”
Inflation translates to a hidden tax on poor people, Bruce wrote. He based this view on a June report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York that reported the inflation rate for Blacks to be 0.2 percentage points higher than the national average, and for Hispanics, it was roughly 0.6 percentage points higher.
The report also found that Black Americans spend more of their income on transportation than white Americans.
The U.S. Census Bureau supports the broad assessment, reporting in 2019 that Black Americans represented 23.8% of the population in poverty while only accounting for 13.2% of total population.
A study published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in April showed that everyday necessities such as electricity and cellular service make up a large part of Black Americans' budgets, Bruce wrote.
In November, a Bank of America study found that Black, Hispanic, and Latino households spent 7.1% of their post-tax income on energy while 5.4% was spent by other groups. When it comes to food, Blacks tend to spend 12.5% of their income, compared to 11.1% for others, the article stated.
The World Population Review estimates that in North Carolina, 21.84% of the population, or 2,360,234 people are Black and 9.38%, or 962,665 people are Hispanic.
Bruce is the executive director of Concerned Communities for America. His organization focuses on facilitating political liberation and social transformation of communities of color across the country.
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