Essence
November 12, 2019
Numbers don’t lie, but they are ill-equipped to adequately articulate the nuance of our collective wealth. The African-American money story is rooted in a fight for fairness, access to resources and a restoration of our humanity. And at the heart of this story is a desire for this nation to finally make good on the material returns it promised African-Americans in exchange for centuries of sacrifice, service and servitude.
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If public policy has been leveraged to create wealth for select Americans in the past, it can be leveraged again— this time to produce riches for all Americans.
If public policy has been leveraged to create wealth for select Americans in the past, it can be leveraged again—this time to produce riches for all Americans. One 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful, Senator Cory Booker, has proposed the passing of a baby bond bill with this end in mind. Originally the brainchild of economists Darrick Hamilton and William Darity, Jr., baby bonds would be federally managed accounts set up at birth for children and endowed by the federal government with assets that will grow over time.
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While baby bonds won’t replace lost generational wealth, it’s a bold and thoughtful attempt to level the playing field for young adults. Another notable approach to possibly eliminating the racial wealth gap includes Senator Elizabeth Warren and others’ proposal to introduce the Student Borrower Bankruptcy Relief Act of 2019. The bill would eliminate the section of the U.S. bankruptcy code that prevents federal and private student loans from being dischargeable.
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