White decision-making, not black behavior, drives black outcomes today

Evidence

At its core, The Whiteness of Wealth shows that the role tax policy plays in perpetuating the black-white wealth gap represents an ongoing failure to provide an equal opportunity to black Americans that neither the left nor the right truly understands. The conservatives are correct about one thing: The black-white wealth gap can be decreased if people make different decisions. But it is the decision-making by white Americans that is largely responsible for black outcomes today. The solution? Behavioral changes at every level. Black Americans need to be defensive players in an anti-black system unless or until it changes, choosing strategies in their educations, careers, and family lives that compensate for oppressive practices and policies. Meanwhile, white Americans need to recognize these anti-black practices and policies and actively work against them, even when doing so harms their pocketbooks. And all voters, black and white, need to be aware of the special interests, bad actors, and anti-black forces that shape our tax system. It will take sustained, systemic change, from the federal to the individual level, to upend the status quo. — Dorothy A. Brown, The Whiteness of Wealth, 79

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘defensive players in an anti-black system’ framing is a sharp lens for an essay on what personal finance advice for black Americans actually requires versus what it assumes.