The economy still isn’t working for people of color

We know economic inequality in America is real and keeps growing. We know people of color, especially black people, are hit the hardest. That’s not news.

What is new is the wave of politicians, primarily Democrats, who are speaking more candidly about race and inequality than ever before. They’re speaking from personal experience, confronting their party’s past and making proposals that would have been unheard of in the mainstream just a couple years go — like reparations.

There’s also new research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland into the massive wealth gap between black and white Americans, which has barely changed since the 1960s, thanks, mostly, to unequal pay.

For the second part of our series on the economics of inequality, we’re joined by Valerie Wilson, director of the Program on Race, Ethnicity, and the Economy at the Economic Policy Institute. She’ll help us sort through some of the history, the politics and the newest research.

Plus: a quick follow-up on Molly Wood’s rage against Netflix’s autoplay feature. Turns out, you can turn it off.