Description: Economic inequality continues to be one of the most hotly debated topics in America, but there has been relatively little discussion of the fact that black-white gaps in joblessness, income, poverty, and other measures were shrinking prior to the pandemic. Why was it happening, and why did this phenomenon go unacknowledged by so much of the media?
In The Black Boom, Jason L. Riley--acclaimed Wall Street Journal columnist and senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute--digs into the data and concludes that the economic lives of black people improved significantly under policies put into place during the Trump administration. Less inequality is something that everyone wants, but disapproval of Trump's personality and methods too often skewed the media's appraisal of effective policies advocated by his administration. If we want to make real progress in improving the lives of low-income minorities, says Riley, we must look beyond our partisan differences at what works and keep doing it. Unfortunately, many press outlets were unable or unwilling to do that.Brief description: Jason L. Riley is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal, where he has published opinion pieces for over twenty-five years. He is a frequent public speaker and provides commentary for various television and radio news outlets. Riley is the author of Let Them In, Please Stop Helping Us, False Black Power?, and Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. In 2021, he narrated the documentary film Thomas Sowell: Common Sense in a Senseless World. He lives in suburban New York City.