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KOSU set to air four-part series focusing on roots of the racial wealth gap in U.S.

Over the next four weeks, during KOSU's Sunday matinée slot, we are airing a four-part radio series exploring the history of the racial wealth gap in the United States.

Read below for details, and tune in Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m. to hear the first episode.


For every dollar of wealth owned by the average U.S. white household, the average Black household has ten cents. The ARC of Justice, grounded in the scholarship of prominent African American economist William Darity Jr., explores how that racial wealth gap came to be.

The series is unique in that it focuses on the roots of the racial wealth gap in U.S. policy. It combines scholarly expertise with historical and contemporary real-world stories and voices of ordinary citizens like Hortense McClinton, a 102-year-old woman whose father was born into slavery. The tone is thoughtful, conversational and sound-rich.

Notable guests include Duke University professor William A. Darity Jr. and folklorist A. Kirsten Mullen, authors of From Here to Equality: Reparations for Black Americans in the Twenty-First Century.

Sunday, July 24 at 3 p.m.
Episode 1: Not So Long Ago
Slavery wasn’t so very long ago. Yet often, accurate accounts of that time have been papered over by history that diminishes or misrepresents that time. Also: a tale of two promises made by the government – one kept, one broken -- and how this history relates to today’s wealth gap between Black and white Americans.

Sunday, July 31 at 3 p.m.
Episode 2: A Tale of Two Cities
An exploration of policies that hindered African American progress, including homeownership (stories from Detroit and Memphis) and the GI Bill.

Sunday, August 7 at 3 p.m.
Episode 3: White Brutality
Throughout the nation’s history, time and again, promising signs of African American progress have been shattered by acts of violence serving the interests of white supremacy.

Sunday, August 14 at 3 p.m.
Episode 4: A Conversation About Reparations (based on a live event)
The U.S. has paid reparations to several groups, for a variety of wrongs. But reparations to African Americans have not been paid to date. What’s the case for reparations? And how might such a program work?

Ryan LaCroix is the Director of Content and Audience Development for KOSU.
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