Six Hundred Atlantic

Season 3: Enduring Divides: Racial Disparities in Today’s Economy Season 3: Enduring Divides: Racial Disparities in Today’s Economy

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Racial disparities in the U.S. have persisted for decades – in wealth, in education, in crime, in neighborhoods. Their impacts are profound, their causes hotly debated. This season, we seek insight in research, data, and a mix of perspectives.

Episode 1: How much time do you want for your “progress?”

Runtime: 14:27 — The nation’s enduring racial disparities are highly politicized and emotional. Some say racism entirely explains the gaps. Others say that’s too narrow — numerous factors are at play. In this overview, we discuss what’s at stake as these gaps persist.

Episode 2: Complex, controversial, relentless: The nation’s damaging racial wealth gaps

Runtime: 16:38 — Racial disparities in wealth are jarringly sharp. Asians and whites are the nation’s highest-wealth groups, and they are trailed significantly by Hispanics and Blacks. Closing wealth gaps is a priority, but the gaps are both complex and controversial.

Episode 3: What is “a sharecropper’s education?” And when will it finally be gone?

Runtime: 14:42 — Disparities in academic achievement across racial groups exist at all levels, and they aren’t closing. No one really knows how to narrow the gaps, which defy easy diagnosis. But experts say that even if there aren’t “silver bullets,” there is hope.

Episode 4: Racially sorted: Segregated by choice?

Runtime: 15:49 — The country’s sharp geographic segregation is fueling racial disparities, and our racist past has helped create divides. But researchers say a voluntary phenomenon called “racial sorting” may be playing an underappreciated role.

Episode 5: Crime thrives, disparities grow where there is “concentrated disadvantage”

Runtime: 12:59 — Researchers say even in high-crime areas, it’s usually just a few street segments causing the problems. And they say that focusing on lowering crime in these areas of “concentrated disadvantage” can have a major impact on closing racial disparities.

Episode 6: A conversation about racism, narratives, and backlash

Runtime: 18:03 — There’s agreement on the need to close racial disparities, but it’s fair to ask if solutions are even possible in today’s polarized environment. So we did. Georgetown’s Harry Holzer and Brown’s Glenn Loury discuss racism, narratives, and backlash.