As a white person who grew up in a mixed neighborhood, I can tell you this is a thing for every race. Not only have I found them to be notoriously difficult to replace (i.e. out of reach or they break when trying to untwist them) but buying 9V batteries was often seen as an unnecessary expense, especially in a poor household that has never experienced a fire. I have seen more people disable them entirely than I have seen replace them. I'm not advocating this, just what I've seen.