The Hill, July 8, 2020: Racial justice requires ending policy discriminations that thwart economic equity
Recent events demonstrate the devaluation of Black lives by our institutions, from law enforcement to the health care system. Calls for police reform are important components of our response to structural racism, but they are far from enough. To combat racism and achieve justice, we must address even more fundamental economic inequities.
Our country’s history of racial discrimination spans 400 years, beginning well before the Republic’s founding and extending through every administration since. Current income disparities map closely to the areas where cotton plantations worked by enslaved people were most prevalent in 1860. Areas with higher levels of residential segregation in 1880 still experience lower rates of intergenerational mobility. And the Black-White household wealth gap is the same today as it was in 1968, a half-century after the passage of landmark civil rights legislation.
