Black Power Scorecard

From the creator of "nothing less than a unified field theory of racism" (NPR Planet Money), a dollar-and-cents reckoning of the state of Black America and a new framework to close the power gap 

Historically, the quest for power by Black Americans has been cast as gaining equal protections under the law in pursuit of basic democratic freedoms. But American power is inextricably associated with ownership--of one's self, home, business, and creations. We are living at a time of a Black cultural renaissance, but the true measure of a genuine shift in influence is whether the people who make the films, cook the food, write the stories, and sing the songs own their work and reap the commercial value of their production.

Economist Andre M. Perry draws on extensive research and analysis to quantify how much power Black Americans actually have. Ranging from property, business, and wealth, to education, health, social mobility, and political strength, he moves across the country, from Maryland to New York, Mississippi, Illinois, and beyond, evaluating people's ability to set the rules of the game, measured by a host of metrics. Evaluating the power gap and where it is most pronounced, he advances the case for reparations as an investment and a corrective.

An expansive take on power, supported by documentation and data, Black Power Scorecard is a groundbreaking contribution to the country's reckoning with structural inequality, one that offers a new approach to redressing it.

Andre M. Perry is the author of Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America's Black Cities. He is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Community Uplift at the Brookings Institution and a professor of practice of economics at Washington University in St. Louis. A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality, and education, Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by the New York Times, The Nation, the Washington Post, TheRoot.com, and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on HBO, CNN, PBS, NPR, NBC, and ABC. He lives in Prince George's County, Maryland.

• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
  
• Publish Date: April 15, 2025
  
• Pages: 256
  
• Dimensions: 6.12 X 9.25 X 1.0 inches | 1.0 pounds
  
• Language: English
  
• Type: Hardcover
  
• EAN/UPC: 9781250869715
  
• BISAC Categories: Distribution, Civil Rights, Ethnic Studies - African American Studies