What Racial Justice Requires
February 23, 2023
Understanding history, and acting on it.
The Roosevelt Rundown features our top stories of the week.
To Build a Just Economy, We Must Understand Black History
This Black History Month comes at a hinge point for the nation: Amid the progress of a recently renewed, Black-led racial justice movement, a white supremacist backlash is making disturbing strides in erasing Black history—American history—from our education system.
Only by understanding the history of Black people—their activism, joy, labor, and struggles—and the ways anti-Blackness has shaped that history, can we actualize racial justice.
The insights, ideas, and research of Black experts have been central in deepening that understanding, and in championing an economy and democracy in which Black people can thrive. Here, we spotlight five foundational pieces:
- Resurrecting the Promise of 40 Acres: The Imperative of Reparations for Black Americans by Roosevelt senior fellow William Darity Jr. and A. Kirsten Mullen
- Beyond Racial Liberalism by Roosevelt President & CEO Felicia Wong and Kyle Strickland, for Democracy Journal
- The “Double Gap” and the Bottom Line: African American Women’s Wage Gap and Corporate Profits by Michelle Holder
- Black Women Best: The Framework We Need for an Equitable Economy by Kendra Bozarth, Grace Western, and Janelle Jones
- Don’t Fixate on the Racial Wealth Gap: Focus on Undoing its Root Causes by Anne Price
Work with Us
We believe that people are the foundation of the progressive movement. If you’re interested in joining our community of thinkers, advocates, and champions of a more democratic economy, check out this just-posted opening:
Learn more, and explore our other open positions now.
What We’re Reading
Mothers of the Movement: Black Environmental Justice Activists Reflect on the Women Who Have Paved the Way – The 19th [feat. Roosevelt’s Rhiana Gunn-Wright]
Blackness, Broke-ness, Brokenness & Bankruptcy. It’s Time to Remove the Racial Stigma from Debt. – Essence
How Monopoly Destroys Democracy – The American Prospect