The National Economic Association Stands in Solidarity with Those Who Are Protesting Anti-Black Racism and its Manifest Violence Against the Black Community

The National Economic Association (NEA) was founded in December 1969 as the Caucus of Black Economists, to formalize the struggle to research, analyze, understand, and address the systematic and institutionalized practices of anti-Black racism generating the economic and social inequalities oppressing the Black community.  Since its founding, NEA scholars have been leaders in researching and exposing the structural conditions by which U.S. racial inequality and oppression creates and perpetuates a desperate and unsafe reality for Black and Brown communities, in the U.S. and around the world.

The recent police killings of Black people is part of the political, economic, social, and physical violence that has been built into America’s institutions since its inception, and makes anti-Black racism America’s most notorious export. 

The NEA unequivocally denounces these acts of violence against Black people and the Black community and stands in solidarity with that community and all those who are protesting against anti-Black racism. 

There may be some who see the current protests as a spontaneous response to the recent killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and Ahmaud Arbery by police, or those acting under the cover of a perceived authority to police Black bodies. However, those who have been paying any attention know that these were only the latest wave in the flood of injustices perpetrated against Black people in the United States since the founding of this country.  The growing protests are indicators of deep, long-standing, inhumane, intolerable, and dangerous economic and social inequalities in this country. Inequalities that disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, and trap in poverty generations of individuals, families, and communities.  

As has recently been often quoted – Dr. King said – “A riot is the language of the unheard.”  As economists, intimately familiar with how economic and political capital are linked, we know that wealth is power.  We also know that wealth inequality will manifest not only in resistance to the oppressive conditions that generate that inequality, but also will manifest in actions, by those who benefit from these systems of inequality, to suppress that resistance and maintain the status quo.  We see this manifested in the long-standing police violence against Black communities, in the system of mass incarceration, in the system of unequal education, in the system of inadequate access to health care, and in the system of unequal income and wealth; that is, in structural, deliberate systems of inequality weaponized against Black people in the United States.

While these systems of inequality are long-standing, they have been made more visible, even to those who would deny them, by the unequal impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on Black communities. According to a report by the Economic Policy Institute, “Black Americans make up 12.5% of the U.S. population but account for 22.4% of COVID-19 deaths.”1

This statistic is a reflection of other social and economic inequalities. 

  • African-Americans are more heavily represented in low wage service sector jobs. These jobs are less likely to have health insurance, and are among the lowest paid sectors in the US economy.2
  • Home health-aides, a sector where Black women comprise around 25% of workers, have no benefits, no paid sick leave, no unionization, and as of May 2018 were earning a median annual wage of around $24,060 per year, which was lower than the median annual wage for all other occupations in the country.3
  • In “good” economic times and bad, the Black unemployment rate is two or three times the unemployment rate for whites.4
  • The history of anti-Black racism and the exploitation of Black Labor in the United States, means that Black workers continue to have less job protection, wage security and benefits, further limiting their abilities to earn a living wage and widening racial disparities in everything from wealth to health.5

The NEA calls for concerted, forceful, engaged action aimed at fostering structural change through policies and practices to improve the lives of Black people in the United States and around the world. NEA members, as part of a research and policy-oriented community, have been engaged in creating blueprints for these policies and we call on policymakers, stakeholders and allies to commit to enacting these plans.6 We will continue our efforts to fight against all forms of anti-Black racism and to improve the lives of members of the Black community. 

THE NEA STANDS IN SOLIDARITY WITH ALL THOSE PROTESTING FOR A MORE JUST AND EQUITABLE WORLD

Linwood Tauheed, PhD.
NEA President
On Behalf of the NEA Board of Directors

Endorsements


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Organizational Endorsements:

The American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE)

The American Society of Hispanic Economists (ASHE) endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing the acts of violence against Black and Brown communities, and its stand on racial injustice and police violence against the community, that has resulted in the death of several people of color . Our community recognizes how the systemic and institutionalized racism in the country is defining the life, wellbeing, and future of Black people. To be silent is to be complicit.

Mónica García-Pérez, PhD.
ASHE President
On Behalf of the ASHE Board of Directors

The International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE)

The International Association for Feminist Economics endorses the National Economic Association statement denouncing violence against Black people and the Black community.   As an international group of scholars and activists, we are dedicated to challenging the structural inequalities and systematic injustices based on race and gender at the heart of our economies.

Professor Cheryl R. Doss
President, IAFFE
On behalf of the IAFFE Board

The Association for Economic Research of Indigenous Peoples (AERIP)

The Association for Economic Research of Indigenous Peoples (AERIP) endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing the acts of violence against Black and Brown communities and the NEA’s solidarity with all of those protesting for a more just and equitable world. The NEA and its members have been leaders for 50 years in conducting research and teaching on the structural conditions which have led to U.S. racial inequality and oppression for Black and Brown communities. We appreciate their leadership and efforts in these areas and intend to contribute to this important work as an organization and as individuals.

Miriam Jorgensen on behalf of the board
President
Association for Economic Research of Indigenous Peoples (AERIP)

Howard University Department of Economics

The Department of Economics supports and endorses the National Economic Association statement standing with those who are protesting anti-black racism and its manifest violence against the black community.

Omari H. Swinton, PhD
Chair, Department of Economics
Director of Graduate Studies
Associate Professor of Economics
Howard University

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI)

The Economic Policy Institute endorses the National Economic Association statement denouncing violence against Black people and the Black community. EPI is committed to exposing and challenging the deeply rooted systemic anti-Black injustices in the U.S. economy. EPI stands in solidarity with NEA and all those protesting for a more just and equitable world.

Thea Lee
President
Economic Policy Institute

The Department of Economics at John Jay College, The City University of New York

The Department of Economics at John Jay College, The City University of New York endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement for concerted, forceful, engaged action aimed at fostering structural change to improve the lives of Black people and thus the whole working class in the United States. The Department of Economics stands in solidarity with all those protesting for a more just and equitable world.

Geert Dhondt
Associate Professor and Chair
On behalf of The Faculty of the Department of Economics

Women in Economics at Berkeley

Women in Economics at Berkeley endorses the National Economic Association’s statement denouncing white supremacy in the United States.  We recognize that the disproportionate killing of Black people by the police is a violent expression of this white supremacy, and we take responsibility for working to dismantle institutional racism in our personal and professional lives.

The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE)

The Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) strongly endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing the acts of violence against Black and Brown communities. The Union for Radical Political Economics stands in solidarity with all those marching for justice against institutionalized racism and white supremacy.

Jared Ragusett, PhD
President, Union for Radical Political Economics
On Behalf of the URPE Steering Committee

The American Economic Association Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession (CSQIEP)

The American Economic Association Committee on the Status of LGBTQ+ Individuals in the Economics Profession (CSQIEP) endorses the National Economic Association statement. We stand in solidarity against America’s long and ugly history of structural and systemic racism, often perpetrated under the guise of enforcement of the law and with wide-reaching harmful consequences. While the severity of the violence faced by the LGBTQ+ community at the hands of police is incomparable to that faced by the Black community, police harassment and violence is a history we share and what prompted the Stonewall Riots in 1969, led in part by our sister Marsha P. Johnson. We also join in mourning the potentially extra-judicial killing of our brother, Tony McDade, a Black trans man that was shot and killed by police in Tallahassee, Florida on May 27th, 2020. We march alongside you—today and always.  

Kitt Carpenter
Committee Co-Chair
On behalf of CSQIEP

The African Economic History Network (AEHN)

The African Economic History Network (AEHN) endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing all forms of anti-Black racism and violence against the Black community in the U.S. and globally. As an international community of scholars on sub-Saharan Africa, we are committed to the fight against anti-Black racism and emphatically condemn violence against Black people and the Black community. 

The African Economic History Network (AEHN) board
On behalf of the AEHN

The Department of Economics at the University of Missouri Kansas City

The faculty of the Department of Economics at the University of Missouri Kansas City strongly endorses the NEA statement of solidarity with those protesting anti-Black racism and violence against the Black community. Equality for the Black community and opposition to racism are integral parts of our scholarship and teaching, and are fundamental to our mission. We have long-recognized that Black people in the United States have been subject to profound injustices and inequalities since the founding of this country, including enslavement, lynching, housing discrimination, labor market discrimination, denial of equal education, and victimization by fraud and predation. We support those protesting against anti-Black racism and violence, and work alongside you for a just and equitable future free from these abominations.

Erik K. Olsen Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Chair
Department of Economics
University of Missouri Kansas City
On behalf of the UMKC Department of Economics Faculty

The Economics Department at Denison University

The Department of Economics at Denison University endorses the National Economic Association’s statement standing in solidarity with those protesting anti-Black racism and its manifest violence against the Black community.

Quentin Duroy
Associate Professor and Chair
On behalf of the Faculty of the Department of Economics

The Discipline of Economics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn

The discipline of Economics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn supports and endorses the National Economic Association statement standing with those who are protesting anti-black racism and calling for a more just and equitable world. We commit to challenging discrimination and bias in our curriculum, our institution, and society as a whole.

Suzanne Bergeron, Professor
On behalf of the Faculty in Economics

The African Finance and Economics Association (AFEA)

The African Finance and Economics Association (AFEA) endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing all forms of violence, police brutality, and racial injustice against Black people, and black communities. As a non-political, non-partisan international association of scholars, practitioners, and activists, we are dedicated to calling attention to and challenging the structural inequalities and systematic injustices that create those inequalities. We firmly believe in the notion that any act of injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and silence in the midst of oppression is unacceptable.

Evelyn Wamboye, PhD.
AFEA President
On Behalf of the AFEA Board of Directors and AFEA Members

The Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston

The Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing violence against Black people and the Black community. We stand in solidarity with all those protesting against anti-Black racism and fighting for a more just and equitable world.

Department of Economics Faculty
University of Massachusetts Boston

The Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity (GISP)

The Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity (GISP) stands with the National Economic Association and those around the nation and the world against racism, white supremacy, police brutality and the Prison Industrial Complex. We at GISP stand for liberty and justice for all!

Fadhel Kaboub, President
Mathew Forstater, Research Director
The Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity

Italian Association for the Study of Comparative Economic Systems (AISSEC)

The Italian Association for the Study of Comparative Economic Systems (AISSEC) endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing violence against the Black community. Our scientific association is committed in working for a more just and equitable world.

Donatella Saccone
AISSEC President
on behalf of the AISSEC Board

Economists for Inclusive Prosperity

Economists for Inclusive Prosperity endorses the National Economic Association statement denouncing the acts of violence against Black and Brown communities, and its stand on systemic racial injustice and persistent police violence.

Suresh Naidu
On Behalf of Economists for Inclusive Prosperity

The Department of Economics at Franklin & Marshall College

The Department of Economics at Franklin & Marshall College endorses the NEA’s call for “concerted, forceful, engaged action aimed at fostering structural change through policies and practices to improve the lives of Black people in the United States and around the world.” We support the NEA’s efforts to advance economic research and analyses of the structural causes of racial inequality. We stand in solidarity with all who struggle for dignity and justice to all people worldwide.

Eiman Zein-Elabdin
Professor of Economics
Chair, Department of Economics
Franklin & Marshall College

The Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)

The Association for Evolutionary Economics endorses the National Economic Association statement denouncing violence against Black people and the Black community. As an international academic organization, we are dedicated to promoting the analysis of the economy as a socially constructed and historical evolving system of institutionalized practice. Such an analysis opposes the naive faith of unregulated markets, and recognizes the reality of progressive, instrumental change for the improvement of our society.

Professor Eric R. Hake
Secretary/Treasurer, AFEE

The Williams College Department of Economics

The Williams College Department of Economics endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing violence against Black people and the Black community. We stand in solidarity with that community and all those who are protesting against anti-Black racism. We strongly support efforts to end racial injustice and affirm our intention to act against racism and discrimination both inside and outside Economics.

Lara Shore-Sheppard
Kimberly ’96 and Robert ’62 Henry Professor of Economics
Chair, Department of Economics
Williams College

The History of Economics Society (HES)

The History of Economics Society endorses the National Economic Association (NEA) statement denouncing the acts of racist violence, and standing with those who are protesting racism. As an organization of historians of economics we are aware of the specific responsibility we have towards the past, in particular with respect to who and whose ideas are made visible and who will be forgotten.

Professor Marcel Boumans
President HES

The Barnard College Department of Economics

The Barnard College Economics Department is proud to endorse the
statement by the National Economic Association (NEA) pledging solidarity
with those protesting anti-Black racism and systemic violence against
the Black community. Alongside the NEA, we commit to fighting
institutional racism and inequity in our discipline and our society.

Rajiv Sethi
Chair, Department of Economics
Barnard College, Columbia University

SAGE Publishing

SAGE Publishing, publisher of the National Economic Association’s Review of Black Political Economy, strongly endorses the Association’s statement denouncing violence against Black and Brown communities and supporting those fighting against anti-Black racism. We are redoubling our efforts to enable policymakers, stakeholders, and allies as they foster structural change based on ‘blueprints’ created by the social and behavioral science community. Through amplifying expert voices, particularly scholars of color, and ensuring that the research we publish reaches those best placed to drive fundamental change, we stand with the Association in a firm commitment to eradicating racism in all forms.

References:

1Gould and Wilson – “ Black workers face two of the most lethal preexisting conditions for coronavirus—racism and economic inequality“ at https://www.epi.org/publication/black-workers-covid/

2Weller – “ African Americans Face Systematic Obstacles to Getting Good Jobs” at https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/economy/reports/2019/12/05/478150/african-americans-face-systematic-obstacles-getting-good-jobs/

3 Lerrain – “ Why do one in five home health aides live in poverty?”  at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/sep/18/us-healthcare-jobs-wages-women

4Gould and Wilson – “ Black workers face two of the most lethal preexisting conditions for coronavirus—racism and economic inequality“ at https://www.epi.org/publication/black-workers-covid/

5Darity et al. – “What We Get Wrong About Closing the Racial Wealth Gap”  at https://socialequity.duke.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/what-we-get-wrong.pdf

6Review of Black Political Economy (RBPE) at https://journals.sagepub.com/home/rbp