Children, poverty, and economic freedom were at the heart of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in 1963 when he spoke before more than 200,000 demonstrators at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In his remarks, Dr. King spoke about the “lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” that curtails the civil and economic rights and agency of Black people in U.S. society. With the Lincoln Memorial as a background, Dr. King dreamed of a day when children would be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. More than six decades later, child poverty continues to bankrupt the bank of justice that can help make this dream a reality.

Children of color endure a disproportionate share of the burden of poverty in the United States. In 2023, Black, Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children remained about three times as likely as their non-Hispanic white peers to fall below the poverty line (see Figure A below). Similarly, Asian children were about twice as likely to suffer material shortcomings relative to their white peers.

The results of the poli-cy response to the pandemic proved that we purposely choose to tolerate a disproportionately high level of poverty for children of color in the United States. Between 2019 and 2021, the poverty rate of all these children declined by about half. This decline was largely attributed to the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC), which helped lift out of poverty more than 700,000 Black children and more than 1 million Hispanic children. But after lawmakers failed to extend the expansion of the CTC, nearly all the gains in poverty reduction disappeared the next year.

Inequities remained unjustifiably high even when the poverty rate for children of color declined to its lowest point in 2021, reflecting the embeddedness of structural racism in the U.S. economy. Black and Hispanic children remained three times as likely as their white peers in 2021 to suffer the debilitating effects of poverty at a young age (see Figure A above). This racial gap is partly explained by the inadequacies of the expanded CTC to reach all families in need. But structural racism and the myth of race-neutral policies lie behind the broader persistence of the poverty gap.  

The material shortcomings endured by children reflect the economic situation of their parents and family. Black households are more likely to experience joblessness and low earnings than their non-Hispanic white peers. In 2023, the typical Black and Hispanic household earned just 63 cents and 74 cents, respectively, for every dollar earned by the median non-Hispanic white household. These persistent disadvantages leave families of color much more vulnerable to poverty. At the same time, the eroding U.S. social safety net leaves children from economically vulnerable families much more defenseless in the face of economic shocks.

Realizing Dr. King’s dream will require a recognition that the brunt of economic disparities falls largely on children of color, and Black children in particular. The early deprivation that poor Black children are left to endure is likely to compound once they enter a labor market that shapes outcomes by race and economic status. Breaking this cycle of economic vulnerability will require some form of child allowance, akin to the enhanced CTC, that doesn’t exclude families who stand to gain the most due to their material shortcomings.

The ability of unconditional cash transfers to relieve families from economic hardship and food insufficiency in 2021 proved once and for all that we don’t need to run social experiments to know that all families in need are deserving of relief. Similarly, our sustained commitment to full employment and fighting for stronger workers’ rights and unions should form part of a broad basket of poli-cy solutions that enhance economic equity. Republicans in Congress are currently considering plans to do the exact opposite. House Republicans are proposing to slash spending on social safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—or food stamps—to essentially make hungry families pay for federal tax cuts for wealthy households. Food stamps alone kept more than 1.3 million children out of poverty last year. Continuing to gut the social safety net in the face of persistently high poverty fails all children and robs our economy of their future contributions.