The economic position of Black Americans relative to white Americans over the years remains precarious at best. Over 150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, descendants of enslaved people own just 1 percent of the nation’s total wealth. Even emancipation, civil rights, increases to education, and improved employment have not substantially advanced Black people’s democratic participation in our economic system. Furthermore, the 2008 financial crisis, which resulted from targeted discrimination and then the financialization of that discrimination, wiped out 53 percent of Black wealth, compared to 16 percent of white wealth, permanently devastating Black communities.