[lsiebert]

Black people being poor is not incidental, but the results of systematic oppression and discrimination, for work, credit, housing, and other resources.

Go look at the wikipedia article on redlining.

And this is not a past problem, banks were charging higher interest rates for loans to blacks than whites before the recent recession.

Housing discrimination may be illegal, but that doesn't mean it's not still an issue. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/racism-alive-and-well-in-housing...

systemic racial injustice doesn't mean a racial targeting system. It doesn't even have to be conscious. It is the result of tiny acts of discrimination that add up to disadvantage people of color.

As for 19th century France, it wasn't until the 1840's that France outlawed slavery, and then it continued to discriminate against french colonial citizens of color, such as Algerians.

That's not to say that class and wealth have no role in affecting black people. But being discriminated against because one is black and being discriminated against because one is poor are not mutually exclusive; they are, if anything, mutually reinforced.