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On Memorial Day 2020, America was hurled into a reckoning with racism. Thousands took to the streets—amid a global pandemic—to protest the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.
Black and Brown people engage with the criminal justice system at higher rates than Whites and often face more severe consequences. But it is not the only institution tangled in racism’s tentacles.
Days after Floyd’s death, Institute advisor and Howard University Professor William Spriggs wrote an open letter to economists, imploring his colleagues to consider the role racism plays not only in their empirical assumptions but also in their profession. “Their training as economists has let them silently accept lots of ‘givens’ they now understand should not be presumed,” Spriggs wrote.
The magazine of the opportunity & Inclusive Growth institute
Economists inform and shape policymaking processes in fundamental ways. Race and economic outcomes are intertwined, and yet “the overwhelming majority of explorations of racial disparities in economic outcomes remains deeply tied to [the] view of race as an exogenous variable.” For Spriggs, it is high time to eliminate the “othering” of Black people by economists, both within their ranks and in their research.
Similarly moved, Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, alongside Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic and Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, launched “Racism and the Economy,” a series of conferences designed to explore the effects of and solutions to institutionalized racism.
This spring, the Institute joined the series to organize a conversation on racism in economics. Guided by Director Abigail Wozniak, participants examined the ways racism persists in the field. From conditions influencing the professional pipeline to assumptions about race, panelists thoroughly examined the mechanisms enabling racism in the discipline.
To watch a recording of the event and learn more, go to minneapolisfed.org/policy/racism-and-the-economy.
This article is featured in the Spring 2021 issue of For All, the magazine of the Opportunity & Inclusive Growth Institute
Alyssa Augustine oversees social media and digital engagement, leads the Bank's content strategy, and manages media relations for President Neel Kashkari and other Bank leaders. An experienced TV journalist, Alyssa also contributes articles to the Bank's website and publications.
