The value gap is the national premise that white people matter more than others

Evidence

The crisis currently engulfing black America and the country’s indifference to the devastation it has wrought illustrate what I call the value gap. We talk about the achievement gap in education or the wealth gap between white Americans and other groups, but the value gap reflects something more basic: that no matter our stated principles or how much progress we think we’ve made, white people are valued more than others in this country, and that fact continues to shape the life chances of millions of Americans. The value gap is in our national DNA. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 79

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the book’s core definition the reader explicitly needs — the value gap distinguished from measurable achievement and wealth gaps.
• XREF: Goldin & Katz’s ‘race between education and technology’ gap framework offers a competing measurable-gap frame; also resonates with Charles Mills’ ‘Racial Contract’ as unstated premise.