Rewrite the Racial Rules: Building an Inclusive American Economy
June 6, 2016
By Andrea Flynn, Dorian Warren, Felicia Wong, Susan Holmberg
Rewrite the Racial Rules: Building an Inclusive American Economy argues that, in order to understand racial and economic inequality among Black Americans, we must acknowledge the racial rules that undergird our economy and society. Those rules—laws, policies, institutions, regulations, and normative practices—are the driving force behind the patently unequal life chances and opportunities for too many individuals.
In this report, Andrea Flynn, Dorian Warren, Felicia Wong, and Susan Holmberg examine the racial rules across six different dimensions: income, wealth, education, criminal justice, health, and democratic participation. Ultimately, we show why the rules structuring our economy matter for the well-being of Black Americans. And, against the backdrop of stark racial economic inequality dating back centuries, we make the case for pushing past both explicit and implicit exclusions, as well as ostensible race-neutrality.
Authors
Felicia Wong
President and CEOFelicia Wong is the president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, where she directs the organization’s mission, vision, and strategy in pursuit of a high-care, low-carbon economy that works for all. She was the US representative on the G7 Economic Resilience Panel in 2021, served on the Biden-Harris administration transition advisory board, and currently serves as vice chair of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity.