Black Americans Say the American Dream Was Never Theirs, Survey Reveals

As the nation prepares to mark Juneteenth, the day the last enslaved people in the United States learned of their freedom in 1865, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Black Americans are taking stock of what that freedom has meant in practice.

And for many, the answer is sobering.

In a recent BET special commemorating the holiday, Black Americans were asked a pointed question: Does the American Dream still exist for us?

The overwhelming response: It never did.

“There is no dream for Black people,” one respondent said. “This country wasn’t built for us—it was built by us, for others.”

Another added:

“We had to make our own version. Their dream was never ours to begin with. If they don’t have a seat for us at the table, we bring our own chair—or build a whole new table.”

The Data Reflects the Sentiment

Unfortunately, these sentiments aren’t just emotional, they’re backed by hard numbers.

The rollback of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives across corporate America and the dismantling of affirmative action by the U.S. Supreme Court have reversed policies once aimed at closing opportunity gaps for Black Americans.

In education, the results are already showing. As previously reported by Black Enterprise, Black student admissions are plummeting at top U.S. institutions:

• At MIT, Black students made up just 5% of the incoming Class of 2028—down from an average of 13%.
• Nearby Amherst College reported a drop from 11% Black representation in the Class of 2027 to just 3% in 2028.

These declines have reignited concerns about access to elite education, upward mobility, and whether Black students are being systematically edged out of spaces that shape future leadership.

Still, in the face of these setbacks, Black Americans continue to build, economically, culturally, and politically.

New research from the Center for Economic and Policy Research shows that Black household wealth reached a new high in 2022, with the median net worth hitting nearly $45,000, more than doubling from about $17,000 in 2013.

But experts warn against premature celebration. That same report estimates that if current trends persist, it could take up to 500 years to fully close the racial wealth gap.

The Black unemployment rate also remains disproportionately high—roughly 1.7 times greater than the national average.

A Juneteenth Reality Check

Juneteenth has grown in visibility in recent years, now recognized as a federal holiday. But for many Americans, the celebration is shadowed by a stark realization: freedom was declared, but equality remains a distant goal.

What Juneteenth offers, though, is space—space to reflect, to resist, and to reimagine.

As one voice from the BET feature said, “If the dream was never meant for us, then maybe it’s time we stop chasing it—and start creating our own.”