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THE COLOR OF WEALTH
The Story Behind the U.S. Racial Wealth Divide

By Meizhu Lui, Barbara Robles, Betsy Leondar-Wright,
Rose Brewer, Rebecca Adamson

The New Press, 2006

 

Since 2001, United for a Fair Economy has been researching why the racial wealth divide remains so wide. We've put that research into new workshops, into our annual State of the Dream reports — and into our new book, The Color of Wealth.

The Color of Wealth is the first book to lay out the obstacles placed in the path of asset building by government actions and inactions for four different racialized groups, and to detail the boosts given to white people by public policy. The book's message is a hopeful one; the very success of programs to move white men into the middle class shows that it can be done for everyone. Inspiring case studies and realistic policy ideas point the way towards a real opportunity society.

The five co-authors come from five different ethnic groups ­ Asian American, African American, Latino, Native American and white - and each contributed research about her own people's history, as well as a personal story of how these historical trends touched her own family.

All five co-authors of The Color of Wealth have a connection to United for a Fair Economy. Meizhu Lui is the Executive Director; Bárbara Robles is a board member; and Betsy Leondar-Wright is the Communications Director. Rose Brewer was a long-term board member until her term expired in 2005. Rebecca Adamson gave a keynote speech at UFE's 2005 Defending the Dream conference.

The target audiences for the book include anti-racist activists, concerned people of color and white people, and college students. The book is written in accessible language to make it useful to as wide an audience as possible.

UFE hopes to use The Color of Wealth book promotion as a strategy to get the racial wealth divide on the map, adding wealth-building to the goals of the racial justice movement, and adding racism to asset development groups' agenda.