When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched for economic opportunity 60 years ago, the situation in Black communities was dire. Many lacked basic infrastructure such as bank branches, properly resourced schools, and local grocery stores. We know because these were our communities in Denver, CO, and Piedmont, WV. Today, our country continues to stymie the full potential of Black Americans and other underrepresented communities at a greater scale as they continue to be denied equitable access to the tools of economic mobility. This has contributed to a racial wealth gap that has widened by nearly 2% over the last 30 years.
These disparities have limited our communities’ abilities to grow and thrive. Our communities do not suffer from a lack of drive, intelligence or commitment–they were let down by a system that at best ignored them and at worst abused them through practices like redlining and the slow-rolling of school integration. As a result, these communities lost out on economic upward mobility, businesses missed out on their valuable perspectives, and America squandered their potential.
