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Wealth Inequality Archives - Institute of the Black World 21st Century

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The Black-white wealth gap left Black households more vulnerable

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Emily Moss, Kriston McIntosh, Wendy Edelberg, and Kristen E. Broady— The COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted devastating effects on the U.S. economy, with job losses  especially concentrated among women, minorities, and low-wage workers. Economists have described the uneven and unequal economic recovery from the COVID-19 recession as a “K-shaped” recovery, characterized by divergent recovery trajectories for the affluent relative to those of less means. While considerable attention has been devoted to examining the…

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December 21, 2020
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Racial segregation at a bus station in North Carolina in 1940.

North Carolina county becomes latest to back reparations

By Reparations

A board of commissioners in a North Carolina county has voted to support reparations and apologized for the county’s role in slavery, segregation and systemic discrimination against Black residents By The Associated Press— HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — A board of commissioners in a North Carolina county has voted to support reparations and apologized for the county’s role in slavery, segregation and systemic discrimination against Black residents. Similar to measures that have…

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December 17, 2020
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New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy

New Jersey Governor’s “Baby Bonds” Plan Is A First Step Towards Closing The Racial Wealth Gap.

By Commentaries/Opinions

Baby bonds are a good start toward changing the discriminatory status quo, but limiting it to New Jersey is shortsighted. By Maurice BP Weeks, The Appeal — New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy dropped a bombshell into the budget he released this month: a proposal to fund “baby bonds,” which would give $1,000 to every baby in the state born to families who make under about $131,000. By the children’s 18th…

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September 24, 2020
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free men, women, and children in Richmond, Va., 1865

Calling on white Americans: Reparations for slavery are due

By Editors' Choice, Reparations

The legacy of slavery is far from resolved. It persists every day and everywhere. By David Gardinier and Karen Hilfman, The Boston Globe — Since the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a white police officer, and the resounding anti-racist uprisings around the world, the concept of reparations has picked up momentum in national conversations and has sparked new public curiosity and interest. Among Black people and their ancestors,…

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August 17, 2020
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Bill Clinton golfing with his wealthy friends on August 5, 2000, in Martha's Vineyard, MA.

The Racial Wealth Gap Is About the Upper Classes

By Commentaries/Opinions

By Matt Bruenig, Jacobin — In light of the recent resurgence of Black Lives Matter protests, there has been renewed discussion of the racial wealth gap and how to close it (Nikole Hannah-Jones, Annie Lowrey). I have written on this topic many times in the past (I, II, III, IV). One thing I have tried to emphasize over the years, which I will do again here in a different way, is that due to…

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July 13, 2020
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Five generations of a slave family.

American slavery: Separating fact from myth

By Reparations

By Daina Ramey Berry — People think they know everything about slavery in the United States, but they don’t. They think the majority of African slaves came to the American colonies, but they didn’t. They talk about 400 years of slavery, but it wasn’t. They claim all Southerners owned slaves, but they didn’t. Some argue it was all a long time ago, but it wasn’t. Slavery has been in the…

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July 8, 2020
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Dr. Ron Daniels on Our Common Ground with host Janice Graham

Dr. Ron Daniels on Our Common Ground with host Janice Graham

By News & Current Affairs

Audio June 27, 2020, 10PM — “The Black Firewall: Will It Hold?” Janice Graham, host of Our Common Ground talks with Dr. Ron Daniels, Ph.D. , Veteran social and political activist; journalist, professor; President and Founder the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW) About Guest Dr. Ron Daniels Veteran social and political activist Dr. Ron Daniels was an independent candidate for President of the United States in 1992….

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June 27, 2020
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BET founder calls for $14 trillion of reparations for slavery

By Reparations, Video/Audio

Robert Johnson, founder of RLJ Companies and BET, tells CNBC’s “Squawk Box” America must make reparations for slavery in order to address racial inequality. Robert Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, told CNBC on Monday the U.S. government should provide $14 trillion of reparations for slavery to help reduce racial inequality. The wealth divide and police brutality against blacks are at the heart of protests that have erupted across the…

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June 2, 2020
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Virus Outbreak Unemployment Funds

Black Americans are bearing the brunt of coronavirus recession – this should come as no surprise

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

When the shuttered economy reopens, how many black Americans will be left out in the cold? By William M. Rodgers III — As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in April, many Americans were shocked by the extent that black Americans were being disproportionately impacted: higher infection rates, more deaths and greater job loss. But many black Americans were not surprised. This is not new. The same dynamic has been going on at times of…

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May 6, 2020
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Homeless in NYC Subway

Inequality and the Coronavirus, Or How to Destroy American Society From the Top Down

By Commentaries/Opinions, COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

By Liz Theoharis — My mom contracted polio when she was 14. She survived and learned to walk again, but my life was deeply affected by that virus. Today, as our larger society attempts to self-distance and self-isolate, my family has texted about the polio quarantine my mom was put under: how my grandma fearfully checked my aunt’s temperature every night because she shared a bedroom with my mom; how they…

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April 30, 2020
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