Andre M. Perry (Brookings Institution) presents Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It (Metropolitan Books 2025) at Georgetown today as part of its Tax Law and Public Finance Workshop hosted by Brian Galle and Day Manoli:
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 one’s self, home, business, and creations.
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.
About the Author
Andre Perry is a Fellow in the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings, a scholar-in-residence at American University and a columnist for the Hechinger Report. A nationally known and respected commentator on race, structural inequality and education, Perry is a regular contributor to MSNBC and has been published by The New York Times, The Nation, Washington Post, TheRoot.com and CNN.com. Perry has also made appearances on CNN, PBS, National Public Radio, NBC and ABC. His research focuses on race and structural inequality, education, and economic inclusion. Perry’s recent scholarship at Brookings has analyzed Black-majority cities and institutions in America, focusing on valuable assets worthy of increased investment. He is the author of the forthcoming book, Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities, which will be released by Brookings Institution Press in January 2020 and is currently available through pre-order.
Prior to his work at Brookings, Perry has been a founding dean, professor, award-winning journalist, and activist in the field of education. In 2015, Perry served on Louisiana Governor-elect John Bel Edward’s K-12 education transition committee, as well as New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu’s transition team as its co-chair for education in 2010. In 2013, Perry founded the College of Urban Education at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Mich. Preceding his stint in Michigan, he was an associate professor of educational leadership at the University of New Orleans and served as CEO of the Capital One-University of New Orleans Charter Network.
Perry’s academic writings have concentrated on race, structural inequality, and urban schools. Perry co-authored the Brookings Institution report, Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods and has presented its findings across the country, including the U.S. House Financial Services Committee. For the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Perry co-authored School by School: The Transformation of New Orleans Public Education in "Resilience and Opportunity: Lessons from the U.S. Gulf Coast after Katrina and Rita," published by Brookings Institution Press. Perry also co-authored "The Transformation of New Orleans Public Schools: Addressing System-Level Problems without a System," published by the Data Center of New Orleans. He also co-authored the chapter Between Public and Private: Politics, Governance, and the New Portfolio Models for Urban School Reform published on Harvard University Press. Along with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Perry co-authored the report, PLACE MATTERS for Health in Orleans Parish: Ensuring Opportunities for Good Health for All.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pa., Perry earned his Ph.D. in education policy and leadership from the University of Maryland College Park.
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