Why a ‘colorblind’ approach to economic policy doesn’t work in closing the racial wealth gap

Why a ‘colorblind’ approach to economic policy doesn’t work in closing the racial wealth gap

For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, elected leaders on both sides of the aisle argued that making our systems "colorblind" was the best way to address racism in America. We could achieve economic equality between the races, the argument went, if our institutions simply removed race as a factor from the decision-making process. Experts now identify this philosophy as part of an ongoing system of " ," which privileges white economic and political power over nonwhites. It's fitting that the idea of economic racial liberalism gained dominance during the golden age of neoliberalism in the United States government because it's a neoliberal concept at its heart — an argument that personal responsibility is the sole guiding force that determines our destinies. But just as 40 years of trickle-down economics, with its defunding of systemic investments into the middle and bottom thirds of the economy, has resulted in huge and growing income inequality, racial liberalism's preference for economic colorblindness has only exacerbated pre-existing wealth disparity between races. argues that we need a new way forward to address economic injustice along racial lines. Written by RI President and CEO Felicia Wong and RI deputy director of race and democracy Kyle