Those are not pay disparities, those are overall income disparities. Neither article took two people working the same (or similar) job of different races and genders and compared them, they took the widespread median income of different types of people.

As far as the first article, and parts of the second article, it is obvious statistically white people have "easier" lives. There is a significant smaller percentage of white people in low-income housing, in neighborhoods that lack resources and education. In this regard, yes, I suppose white people have it easier. If you took a white kid and dropped him in the projects, 9 times out of 10 he does not grow up, get a 6-figure job and moves to a suburb. That kid will most likely end up like his parents, working a similar low-skill job, in the same bad neighborhood.

Now I liked the second article because it compared education, but let's face it, not every degree from every school is created equal. Now if you take the first article and extrapolate a little, you can conclude that there are most likely fewer blacks and hispanics getting advanced degrees. Now that also begs the question, how many of them were flowers that grew in the dark? If they were an aforementioned flower, they likely had little to no guidance choosing/paying for a college. So in turn their post-collegiate employment may not be as lucrative as it could have been, had they known which degrees were making money, or if they had that couple of extra thousands of dollars to pay for the nicer school they got into.

As far for women, I noticed the article never mentioned whether or not the women used in the statistic had ever been on any kind of maternity leave, which of course slows people down depending upon how long they were gone. The sad fact is that women get pregnant, and have to take time off from high-stress jobs, which in turn could hurt how much money they make in the long run.

As you could see, you and I have varying interpretations on relatively general data. I believe the reason white men typically live "better" lives than those of other races is a matter of sins/successes of the father metaphorically speaking. As far as men vs. women, I find it hard to believe that men are just handed more money without any reason, at least not anymore. Honestly, there are so many variables in trying to find out such a thing, I don't think we'll ever know the answer.

Now I do still believe there is racism on some level, but to go as far to say one entire race of people is purposefully holding another back seems absurd. But at the end of the day I've been wrong before and stranger things have happened.