The Black families are assessing the damage to their wealth and property as the recession ends and a weak recovery starts off.

Earl Butler a resident of the upper middle class neighbourhood of Sunnymead Ranch in Moreno Valley, sits down for an Easter feast surrounded by his family – wife Sehila and two college going children. He software engineer had remained unemployed for nearly two years and has recently found a job. But somehow the champagne did not taste sweet.

His new job deals with peddling commission – something quite different from his hi-tech previous employment years. The family income has become half of what it was previously. Their house loan has gone underwater with the value of the property being less than the loan due amount. Their savings are nil. They have no health insurance coverage and the mite they had saved for the college education of the children had been used up for the bare essentials during all these months.

Things had become so tough that one by one they had started selling their personal belongings in a garage sale that stretched on for six months. Last December the elder son finally got out of the weak labour market by enrolling in the Army. Butler said, “It feels like a frontal attack on the family. We saved like crazy from the minutes our children were born. Then the bottom fell out.”

The hardship led to bitterness that ultimately resulted in divorce filing but fortunately things were patched up. Life has started to limp on facing an uncertain future with the children’s education at stake.

This is the story of many Black upper middle class families who are suddenly finding themselves moving down the ladder. Butler nursing memories of his father battling unemployment, depression and alcoholism during the 80’s in Oakland, was determined never to allow this to ruin his life. His parents fought over money and the children were neglected.

Butler, a diligent student, managed to stay out of trouble but his elder brother took to the bottle and drugs. He teamed up with gangs and finally ended up in jail. His father suffered business losses that led to the shutting down of his sandwich shop. He then took to odd jobs like fixing storm windows. Butler worked at night and managed to move through college and get a degree.

But the Great Recession has brought him back to where he started with the disadvantage of youth no longer being there to give him the inspiration and push.

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