1/5 Charles Sumner, one of the chief architects of the Freedman's Bureau Act, offered a clear and direct interpretation of the concept of Freedmen in his key Senate speech in June 1864. thirteen.org/wnet/slavery/e… 2/5 Sumner: "By virtue of existing acts of Congress, and aslo under the proclamation of the President, large numbers of slaves have suddenly become free. These may now be counted by the hundred thousand. In the progress of victory they will be counted by the million."

At some point those who persist in claiming that inequality in the US is primarily a matter of class need to address the following three data points: 1. One quarter of white households have a net worth>$1 million. That’s true for only 4 percent of black households.

In a spirit of conciliation let me say at the outset I favor student debt cancellation. What disturbs me are extravagant claims like the assertion it will raise black wealth by 40%. Let’s run the numbers. Average black student loan debt among those holding debt is about $24K. But black enrollment rates are 37%; adjusting for that per capita black student loan debt is about $9500. Per capita average black wealth is about $47K. $9500 is closer to 20% than 40%.

For those who say American racial economic inequality is subordinate to class inequality, plz see Table 2. @FenabaAddo and I show white working household heads consistently have 2-3 times the net worth of median black professional managerial black heads.
journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.117… There is hardly any black “upper class.” 1/4 of white households have a net worth > $1 million. Only 4% of black households. Wealth is grossly unevenly distributed within all American social groups. But the maldistribtion is over a disproportionately smaller share for blacks.

Thank you to @MHarrisPerry @dorianwarren and @aisha_nyandoro for a thoughtful conversation about President Biden's proposals to "close the racial wealth gap." There are, however, some nuances that I wish had been entered into the conversation: First, black heads of household with a college degree actually have a lower level of wealth than white heads of household who never finished high school, not just those who have high school diplomas. @MHarrisPerry

I challenge Ms Integrity, @JAMAiwuyor, to post screenshots and page numbers of passages in From Here to Equality where @IrstenKMullen and I made either of the two statementsx she falsely attributes to us.

Long thread In From Here to Equality on pages 43-44 we argue there are salient differences between the experiences of black American descendants of US slavery and recent black immigrants in the US.

1/ 6 I would prefer not to invest my time in responding to such shoddy research as the so-called Harvard “disinformation” study, but I’ve received so many comments and requests, I’m compelled to do so. 2/6 A central problem is the lack of clarity over whom was identified as the “voices” of ADOS. The report ultimately reads like an extension of the old “Russian bots” smear campaign against ADOS.A shabby process of determining whose Tweets are evaluated produced a desired result.

1/4 As a number of us anticipated black folk are being recruited excessively as subjects for coronavirus vaccine clinical trials, including college presidents at Xavier and Dillard imploring their students to join trials. Other med centers are targeting the local black community. 2/4 I feared that the fact that we are disproportionately affected by the disease (3 times the mortality rates of other groups) would become the rationale for encouraging us to disproportionately be the guinea pigs for previously untested vaccines.

4. UBI is more likely to affect inequality adversely. If you give Bill Gates and "Bill the plumber" the same $12K, the former could save it all leading to a marginal increase in wealth while the latter is more likely to need to spend most of it, w little effect on their wealth. 5. The federal job guarantee puts pressure on the private sector to step up its game and improve job quality (pay, benefits, and safety). The UBI as a stand alone de facto will subsidize bad jobs. @StephanieKelton @ptcherneva