At its best, systemic race theory is the idea that: (1) Slavery and Jim Crow imbedded overtly racist structures throughout American institutions; (2) Remnants of these structures still incentivize discrimination; and (3) Public policy should strive to reduce such malign incentives. At its worst, systemic race theory is an all-purpose pretext for gutting core principles of American constitutional governance and civil society.

A central question in contemporary America is: How much residual damage remains from overt racism, and what should we do about it? I’ve already summarized my own contributions to the Liberty Fund roundtable, so now, I’ll summarize those of my four colleagues on the project.

In introducing the four essays of this collection, business professor Ramon DeGennaro notes that web searches for “systemic racism in education in the United States” and “racial disparities in healthcare in the United States” return nearly 40 million hits apiece.

[Graboyes’ Substack has become a very interesting forum for discussions of important topics. None of these are easy reads, which is what makes them valuable. — Ed]