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

Civil rights advocates carry placards during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in Washington

Truth and Reconciliation: Addressing Systematic Racism in the United States

By IBW21Commentaries/Opinions, Editors' Choice

By Danyelle Solomon — 2019 marks the 400th anniversary of Africans sold into bondage arriving on Virginia’s shores. It has been 156 years since the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, 55 years since the end of Jim Crow, and 51 years since the civil rights movement. All of these moments in U.S. history represent crossroads—moments where the country made a choice or where people demanded that the words on the pages of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights became more than words; that policies and practices were equitably distributed among all people, not just a select few…

August 7, 2019

Love0

Activists with Black Lives Matter protest in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, Tuesday, July 16, 2019, in the wake of a decision by federal prosecutors who declined to bring civil rights charges against New York City police Officer Daniel Pantaleo, in the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner.

America’s deadly wealth pyramid: Eric Garner stood his ground and was crushed for it

By IBW21Commentaries/Opinions

Garner scratched-out a living in the gray market. “Not today,” he said when cops came for him. Now he’s dead. By Bob Hennelly, Salon — On the fifth anniversary of Eric Garner’s homicide we were flooded with the video images of his takedown by NYPD officers. What’s been lost in this retrospective was Mr. Garner’s defiant stand minutes earlier when he was first confronted by the police for the economic “high…

July 29, 2019

Love0

Overview of the Crisis of Gentrification in Black America

By IBW21Gentrification

Presentation by Jeffrey S. Lowe, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Urban Planning and Environmental Policy, Texas Southern University for the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW). National Emergency Summit on Gentrification Newark, New Jersey, April 4, 2019 Any overview concerned with gentrification that is causing crisis in Black America must begin with defining the process in a meaningful way and contextualizing the situation to particular times and sets…

July 29, 2019

Love0

Buttigieg releases 18-page plan to help African Americans and “complement” HR40

By IBW21News & Current Affairs, Reparations

WASHINGTON (NBC News) — Working to prove himself to African American voters, Pete Buttigieg is releasing an 18-page plan Thursday to improve conditions and opportunity for black Americans on everything from the health care, education and criminal justice systems to entrepreneurship and access to credit. The wide-ranging plan constitutes Buttigieg’s initial version of a proposal for reparations for slavery. His campaign says it views it as a “complement” to H.R. 40, legislation working…

July 12, 2019

Love0

We Need To Discuss The Racial Wealth Gap And Reparations

By IBW21Commentaries/Opinions, HR 40 Congressional Hearing, Reparations

By Christian Weller — This article was originally published in Forbes on June 19, 2019. June 19th marks the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Texas and a reminder that African-Americans should have the same rights and opportunities as whites. But the large racial wealth gap between African-Americans and whites is the starkest reminder that the country has yet to create equal opportunity for all. It reflects hundreds of…

July 10, 2019

Love0

One Way to Make Reparations Work

By IBW21Editors' Choice, Reparations

By Noah Smith, Bloomberg — The issue of reparations for African Americans is, of course, full of more moral and historical issues than one column, even by someone with much greater understanding and deeper knowledge than me, could ever resolve. But since the proposal is now being taken seriously, it’s worth thinking about the economics of how it could and should work. The idea of compensating the descendants of American…

March 15, 2019

Love0

Sen. Cory Booker, left, and Sen. Kamala Harris listen during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28, 2018

Beyond the Rising Tide: Reparations for Slavery Have to Be More Than a Symbol

By IBW21Commentaries/Opinions

By Briahna Gray, The Intercept — WHEN HIP-HOP radio host Charlamagne tha God asked Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris if they had a “specific agenda” for black Americans on his show, “The Breakfast Club,” earlier this month, it was clear that neither did. “I have a specific agenda for the American people,” started Booker. But for Charlamagne, and many other black Americans, a generalized American agenda isn’t a substitute for…

February 23, 2019

Love0

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his famed "I Have Dream" speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, August 28, 1963.

600 Black Legislators Resolved to Push Policies for Economic Justice

By IBW21News & Current Affairs

On King Holiday Commemoration: 600 Black Legislators Resolved to Push Policies for Economic Justice. Resolution considered new win for Black Wealth 2020 By Hazel Trice Edney — It was three years ago that a group of national business leaders launched a movement called Black Wealth 2020 partially based on the economic vision articulated by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. King said in his final speech on April 3, 1968: “It’s…

January 25, 2019

Love0

Black child holding coins - Serede Jami / Eyeem / Getty Images

Black Americans’ Median Wealth Could Disappear in One Generation

By IBW21Editors' Choice

By Adam Hudson, Truthout — It’s no secret that, as the saying goes, “The rent is too damn high.”Across the nation, housing is becoming increasingly expensive for many Americans. But the story of the present-day housing crisis is not just a story of rising rents; it’s also a story of systemic racism. Today’s rising housing prices exacerbate the racial wealth gap in the US by making it more difficult for Black…

July 12, 2018

Love0

AME Church Bishops pose with Black bankers and business leaders after announcing historic partnership.

AME Church and Black Banks Launch New Partnership for Black Wealth

By IBW21News & Current Affairs

By Hazel Trice Edney — (TriceEdneyWire.com) – The Black church, among the most prosperous institutions in America, has long led movements for the spiritual, social and civic uplift of Black people. When the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, he had just launched the Poor People’s Movement, which quickly fizzled after his death. With this historic backdrop, the African Methodist Episcopal Church – with…

July 3, 2018

Love0