The Racial Wealth Gap Is Not Just About Money
A new book measures Black wealth through quality-of-life metrics to show that property ownership is connected to longer life expectancy.
In Black Power Scorecard, Andre Perry highlights effective local policies to invest in Black communities.
Photographer: Paul Morigi/Brookings
In Brookings Institution scholar Andre Perry’s 2020 book Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, he coined a phrase that for a moment caught fire: “There’s nothing wrong with Black people that ending racism can’t solve.” That book took on the problem of unfair appraisals for Black-owned homes and the undervaluing of properties in majority-Black neighborhoods.
In his follow-up, Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It, released April 15, he takes a more expansive view, examining the many factors that lead to not just the artificial depreciation of Black properties, but of Black lives in general.