Image
Loading...
In this episode of the Policy 360 podcast, we will explore a critical issue in the 2024 election: racial wealth inequality and its impact on social policy.
Duke professor William A. (Sandy) Darity joins host Manoj Mohanan, interim Dean of the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University, to discuss his research on the racial wealth gap and its historical roots. They examine the implications of various policy proposals, including reparations and baby bonds, and how these policies might address the persistent disparities between Black and white households. This episode is part of our ongoing series of policy-focused conversations related to the 2024 election.
Policy 360
Racial Wealth Inequality & Policy
Subscribe to Policy 360 on your favorite podcast app.
Conversation Highlights
Responses have been edited for clarity.
on January 6th and concerns for a 2025 peaceful transition of power
In [my new book] The Black Reparations Project, my partner, Kirsten Mullen, and I actually talk about the parallels between January 6th and several massacres that translated into successful coup attempts at the municipal level in the United States.
There have been more than 100 massacres, but there's probably in the vicinity of five or six events that constituted attempted coups.
People frequently think that what took place in Wilmington North Carolina in 1898 was the only municipal coup d'etat, but this is not the case. There's the Colfax Massacre that [CNN’s Chief Political Correspondent] Dana Bash's book investigates, but there was also Coushatta, Louisiana; Vicksburg, Mississippi; there was Fort Bend County in Texas.
All of these are instances in which legally-elected public officials were thrown out of office and replaced. And some thrown out of office, not only by being forced into refugee status, but by being killed.
on modern-day voter suppression
I'm concerned about a host of ways in which participation in the election is being restricted or limited. There's a renewal of the types of strategies that were pursued by the ex-Confederates in the aftermath of the Civil War to exclude Black voters from participating in elections. We see some of those same tactics being pursued now in terms of terms of trying to make it extremely difficult for people to register, making it extremely difficult for people to vote if they are not voting in person, the establishment of certain kinds of residency requirements that we have not used in the past.
on the harris campaign's proposed $6000 payment to new parents
I think it's potentially useful and helpful. I think it's more conservative than the proposal that Senator Cory Booker has developed for what he calls "Opportunity Accounts." That project is something that was based directly on the work that I have done with collaborators on the development of [a similar] "baby bonds" proposal.
The idea of Opportunity Accounts is that each newborn infant would receive an endowment or a trust account that they could access when they reach the age of majority. And this trust account would be in some way calibrated to the resources that their families have.
The calibration would be based upon the wealth position of their families.
In the Booker proposal, each newborn infant would get a fixed sum of money, say $1,000. But then they would get an adapted amount, or a flexible amount, in subsequent years based upon their family's income.
I think the reason for using income instead of wealth was the sense of Booker's staff that it's more difficult to actually measure wealth in an accurate way - it's not impossible, but it is harder. And so, they could use income tax data to try to get information about the income position of households. (We don't have a "wealth tax" apparatus that's comparable.)
The original version of the Baby Bonds program [the program based on my research] would give each individual infant somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to $30,000 at birth, which is more than the $6,000 credit that Vice President Harris has in mind.
Although, again, I don't want to dismiss the $6,000 credit, but [other ideas are] significantly more -- families at the lowest end of the wealth distribution, their kids should get something closer to $50 to $60,000 [which would be transformative for them.]
what policies best address the persistent racial wealth gap between Black and White Americans?
Image
Any policy providing enough money to close the racial wealth gap, whether called reparations or something else, could work.
The gap has grown from about $841,000 in 2019 to $1.15 million in 2022. Closing it would require around $16 trillion.
While the $6,000 bond proposed by Harris is a start, it's less than needed. The original Baby Bonds idea proposed $25,000 to $30,000 per infant, which is closer to the mark.
[Also] to effectively address the racial wealth gap, we should use mean wealth figures rather than median ones, as the mean reflects the full extent of wealth disparity. A revised Baby Bonds program targeting the mean could be a universal solution to closing the gap.
on why voters and policymakers might consider addressing the racial wealth gap
To truly grasp the need for reparations, it's essential to consider the historical and ongoing impacts of racial wealth inequality. Critics often question the merit of reparations, but extensive research, including our book From Here to Equality and The Black Reparations Project, provides a robust case.
The racial wealth gap is a direct result of centuries of systemic racism and economic disadvantage.
The shift in public opinion is also significant — support for monetary reparations has increased from just 4% to 30% in recent decades. This growing acceptance offers a unique opportunity. By leveraging this positive change in attitudes, we can advocate for policies that address historical injustices and develop effective reparations programs. Understanding and addressing the racial wealth gap isn't just about making amends but about creating a more equitable future.
Sandy Darity is the Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy, African and African American Studies, and Economics and the director of the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University.
Loading...
Deep Dive into the Roots of the Racial Wealth Gap
Sandy Darity was executive producer and content chief of a podcast series based on his research. The Arc of Justice audio series, co-produced with North Carolina Public Radio/WUNC, was distributed nationally on public radio stations by American Public Media. It was a miniseries of Sanford's award-winning Ways & Means podcast.