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

• Paul Constant is a writer at Civic Ventures and cohost of the "Pitchfork Economics" podcast.
• Recently, he spoke with Kyle Strickland, the Roosevelt Institute's director of race and democracy.

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 "racial liberalism," 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.

A new paper from liberal think tank the Roosevelt Institute 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 Strickland, "A New Paradigm for Justice and Democracy: Moving beyond the Twin Failures of Neoliberalism and Racial Liberalism" cites the failures of racial liberalism and documents a path forward now that neoliberal thinking is no longer the dominant economic philosophy.

"For the past 50 years, the fight for racial justice in our country has really been weakened by an individualistic, race-neutral, colorblind conception of access and opportunity," Strickland said in the latest episode of "Pitchfork Economics." Because of that flawed conception, he said, "We silo the issue of racial justice from economic justice, but we have to talk about the two because race and the economy are connected."

Strickland said a new consensus is forming around the idea that "the colorblind approach to our politics and our policymaking not only does not work, but it actually continues to perpetuate the injustices that we see."

Simply offering, as former President Obama put it, "ladders of opportunity" to people of color isn't enough. "Access and opportunity alone is not sufficient" to fully address America's long history of racism, Strickland said. Racial liberalism didn't take into account the massive disparities in intergenerational wealth that many white families have stored and the countless ways that our economic systems, including our tax code, penalize families of color by prioritizing white wealth.

"Our focus is really on how we actually build more equitable material outcomes," Strickland said. "True equity isn't just about accepting that there's a promise of opportunity within a system that continues to exclude. It actually means a more equitable distribution of resources."

This report arrives at a time when conservative elements are taking up arms against conversations about repairing racism in America.

"The right wing has been trying to take any sort of policy that could represent a movement toward progress and weaponize it against racial justice and for racial backlash. This has been something that they have always done and will continue to do," Strickland said. He added these attacks on critical-race theory "will backfire."

"They're ushering in a politics of white grievance to push back on anything doing with racial justice. This has been a tried and true method that they continue to do," Strickland said. "But we will only fail if we refuse to address it."

He said we could expand the conversation to "talk about the issues that matter to people's everyday lives" like affordable childcare, higher wages, and building financial stability for working Americans. These issues could all be addressed with policies that would shrink the inequality gap for everyone but — especially if designed with racial inequality specifically in mind — would uniquely benefit families of color.

Strickland added that scholars like Darrick Hamilton have done excellent work developing policies like job guarantees, guaranteed basic income, and baby bonds that would help "not only cut into the racial wealth gap but also even the playing field when it comes to wealth inequality in this country."

When you repair the racial inequality in an economy, you're actually making that economy fairer for everyone regardless of color, he said, rather than solely benefiting the wealthy few at the top. When more people can fully participate in the economy, he added, that's great news for everyone.