RICH THANKS TO RACISM

A survey of an economy tilted strongly in favor of the ultrawealthy, who are overwhelmingly White.

For corporate America, writes civil rights attorney Freeman, the damage wrought by systemic racism is a feature, not a bug. Addressing fellow White readers, he advances the familiar but still important observation that, shielded by all manner of psychic and social defenses and avoidance strategies, that audience has trouble discussing such issues as racial inequality and White privilege: “As a result, we, as a whole, continue to demonstrate a shocking lack of awareness about the realities of racial inequality in this country.” Among the lowest of earners, as a class, are former prisoners, who are disproportionately Black and Latinx; they also make up a large percentage of those paid at “poverty or near-poverty wages,” with fewer opportunities for advancement. Freeman takes a broad view of the relevant issues: Education is a key vehicle for economic improvement, of course, and the rush to privatize schools is meant to divert tax money from public schools to private ones. “Of the fifty wealthiest individuals listed by Forbes in 2017,” he writes, “at least forty-two of them have been directly connected to school privatization efforts.” Moreover, he notes, these individuals support not just causes and organizations, but “ecosystems of organizations” whose net effect is to support White supremacy. Other elements of this unequal system are social control by policing, harsh anti-immigrant policies, and like measures. Overall, Freeman’s book is less vigorously written than Dorothy Brown’s The Whiteness of Wealth, which covers much of the same ground in a more compelling fashion. Usefully, though, Freeman closes with the provocative call to amend the Constitution to recognize rights to education, health care, equal pay for equal work, and other public goods.

Of interest to students of ethnic and economic equity and social justice.