Andre M. Perry’s "Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities" reveals the web of historical and contemporary socioeconomic barriers that maintain the racial wealth divide.

After years of presenting on racial economic inequality and the racial wealth divide, I have learned that it is essential to attack head-on the myths and false narratives that justify racial economic inequality before one can begin to approach solutions to this issue. One must face the underlying myth that the United States is the land of economic mobility and that there is a robust middle class that all have equal access to, if they are willing to put in the individual effort. Andre M. Perry’s Know Your Price: Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities reveals the web of historical and contemporary socioeconomic barriers that maintain the racial wealth divide and does this through personal narrative, history, and an exploration of a wide array of social issues.
Perry is known for his professional and academic credentials, including being a fellow at the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and a scholar-in-residence at American University. Yet Perry clarifies that his personal life story is one of his most important credentials in analyzing Black asset poverty’s causes and barriers.
Perry’s introduction provides the most powerful summation of the arguments of the book. Through his story of being raised by a working-class matriarch in a declining middle-class Black city, Perry paints a portrait from which we can see the socioeconomic challenges individuals and households face and how these challenges are embedded in a racially discriminatory political economy. While acknowledging the ups and downs in his family’s life, Perry convincingly argues that ...
FULL STORY: Valuing Black Lives and Black Cities: A Review of Know Your Price

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Caltrans
City of Fort Worth
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie