Yellen sees “a lot more work” to be done to reduce the racial wealth gap

The US Treasury took key steps last year to address long-standing economic injustices facing black Americans, but it still has “much more work” ahead to reduce the racial wealth gap, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Yellen told a meeting hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton and his rights group the National Action Network that Treasury is working to correct the economic wrongs pointed out by assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. in his speech “ I have a dream” in 1963.

“He knew that economic injustice was tied to the broader injustice he was fighting against. From Reconstruction to Jim Crow to today, our economy has never worked fairly for black Americans or really any minority AmericanYellen said at a breakfast honoring King.

The mention of Jim Crow refers to the laws that were put in place in the Southern states in the decades following the 1861-1865 Civil War to legalize racial segregation and disenfranchise black citizens.

In the past year, he said, Treasury has completed its first equity review, hired its most diverse leadership team in history and named its first counselor on racial equity, while creating a COVID-19 rescue plan for better serve minority communities.

In addition, the Treasury also pumped $9 billion into Community Development Financial Institutions and Minority Depository Institutions, while trying to get companies to engage more with those institutions and with underserved communities.

“Of course, no program or government can realize the hopes and aspirations that Dr. King had for our country.Yellen said. “There is still a lot more work Treasury needs to do to reduce the racial wealth gap”.

Federal Reserve data shows that white households owned 85.5% of America’s wealth in 2019, even though they are 60% of the population, while black households owned 4.2% and Latinos 3.1%. Those numbers are little changed from 30 years ago, according to USAFacts.org, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.