Many have written about the stark racial differences in wealth and in income. But what about the differences within black communities? Working on the book I found a couple of charts that I think are interesting here.

The gini coefficient measures income inequality within a group. A score of ‘0’ represents perfect equality–everyone in the group makes the same amount of money. Here are gini coefficients for black and white families. 

Another measure that gets at the same phenomenon is here. The share of aggregate income broken down into fifths. If everything were equal each fifth would have a share of well…a fifth. We don’t see that in black communities. And again here are the equivalent rates for whites.

Notice anything? How do you think this is related to Obama’s speech on fatherhood yesterday?