White Supremacy is the Preexisting Condition: 8 ways to ensure recovery reduces racial wealth gap

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://inequality.org/great-divide/white-supremacy-pre-existing-condition/

Behind the protests over police violence are the painful racial disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic. And behind those health disparities is the persistent and glaring racial wealth divide that has weakened the body politic.

The racial wealth divide is where the past shows up in the present. The glaring gap in wealth reflects the multigenerational history of white supremacy in the United States and the systematic denial of wealth-building opportunities to Black people. Chattel slavery, Jim Crow, segregation, and predatory loans are reflected in the wide disparities in bank accounts, homeownership, financial wealth, and overall well-being between white people and Black and Latino people in the United States.

In our new report, White Supremacy is the Pre-existing Condition, we found that the concentration of wealth has surged during the pandemic, further exacerbating an already extreme racial wealth divide.

Link to report: https://inequality.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/RWD2020-June19-Final.pdf

tl;dr: The eight ways are:

* Improved racial data collection as part of emergency audits

* Racial equity audits of crisis relief and recovery policies

* Income support that expands to guaranteed income

* Postal banking

* Medicare for all

* Expanding inclusive housing and ownership

* Federal jobs guarantee with living wage

* Baby bonds