We often think of inequality as an accident of history, or some inevitable by-product of capitalism, or the result of individual choices people make - and if we could just shift that, we wouldn't have such inequality. But we have chosen inequality. Policy makers made decisions over history to implement programs that really impact opportunities and outcomes, and in many cases those opportunities and outcomes are racialized.

Writer Andrea Flynn explores the persistence of hidden, racialized barriers to economic equality in the US, and explains why a 'class only' attempt to address inequality for all Americans fails to confront the legacy of systemic racism - via mass incarceration, spatial segregation and the wealth gap - blocking Black Americans from prosperity and equal access to the economy at large.

Andrea is co-author of the book The Hidden Rules of Race: Barriers to an Inclusive Economy from Cambridge University Press.