The link between race and poverty

Undeniably, we live in a society which racial classification determines a person's access to participation. It is a system we have always lived by and a system that credits levels of ability and achievement to certain members of groups. These levels reflect different ways of access to cultural resources. Lack of access, results in today's poverty and abandonment towards the the poor, especially educational resources of the society. Poverty only furthers restriction of a person's access to participation. The notion that we willing give the rich power of our nation is unreal because the poor are at a disadvantage and attribute no true power in society; yet, we as a people have not done much to help if "the poorest 50% of the world's population owns only 1% of the world's wealth while the richest 1% of adults in the world own 40% of the planet's wealth." Can America truly be a nation which tolerates such an uneven distribution of wealth? On top of that, if the government is disregarding the poor and redlining minority communities, is the government which is supposed to uphold the notion of freedom regardless of race, sex, etc. being hypocritical to its own claims? It is as if we are oppressors of our own country, but only through recognition of how serious this is can real change be done.