Everyday choices by self-described progressive whites perpetuate the wealth gap.

Evidence

And anti-black racism doesn’t exist only in the past of federal, state, or local governments; it is perpetuated every day by white Americans—many of whom consider themselves progressive. They are white parents selecting where to send their children to school. They are chief executive officers and board members of large private corporations who are comfortable with very few black Americans as executives or upwardly mobile employees, who do not commit real resources to the recruitment and retention of a diverse workforce or ensuring that equally credentialed black workers are as likely to receive the same opportunities and compensation as their white peers. They are white homeowners who choose to purchase houses in homogeneous white neighborhoods even though they would deny being uncomfortable living next door to “too many blacks.” Until white Americans change their behavior, the black-white wealth gap will continue to expand. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 69