TRUTHSayers Dr. Andre M. Perry

TRUTHSayers Speaker series features Dr. Andre M. Perry, author of Black Power Scorecard and Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities. He is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the director of its Center for Community Uplift as well as a professor of practice of economics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Historically, Black Americans’ quest for power has been understood as an attempt to gain equal protections under the law. But power in America requires more than basic democratic freedoms. It is inextricably linked with economic influence and ownership—of oneself, home, business, and creations.

Dr. Andre M. Perry draws on extensive research and analysis to quantify how much power Black Americans actually have. Ranging from property, business, and wealth to education, health, and social mobility, Black Power Scorecard moves across the country, evaluating people’s ability to set the rules of the game and calculating how that translates into the ultimate means of power—life itself, and the longevity of Black communities. Along the way, Perry identifies woefully overlooked areas of investment that could close the racial gap and benefit everyone.

An expansive take on power supported by documentation and data, Black Power Scorecard is a fresh contribution to the country’s reckoning with structural inequality, one that offers a new approach to redressing it. One complimentary copy of Dr. Perry’s new book, Black Power Scorecard will be available for ticket holders while supplies last.

This series is an ongoing program bringing today’s preeminent speakers and artists to the Center to reflect on current events and share unique and thought-provoking material in hopes of inspiring racial awareness and understanding between people.