Paying the Social Debt

Book excerpt: Richard America here redefines the complex problems of racial economic injustice, poverty, inequality, and lagging competitiveness and productivity in the United States. In a sure-to-be-controversial analysis, the author argues that there is a true debt owed by White America to Black America, that this debt is significant, and that it has now come due. He estimates the size of Whites' debt to Blacks, shows how that debt came to be, and suggests creative ways of paying it back. This book argues persuasively that the social and racial problems in the United States cannot be solved until we acknowledge that the haves truly and literally owe money to the have nots.