The Detroit region is one of the most innovative and diverse regions in the nation. Its 300,000 plus businesses employ 2.5 million people and drive a regional annual GDP of $279 billion, which is greater than 29 states.
However, it has never reached its full potential and prosperity because of systemic inequities and government policies that provided opportunities to white people but not to Black people and other people of color, and attitudes that held Black people as less than white people.
While slavery was America’s original sin, subsequent government decisions, business bias, and overt and unconscious racist attitudes of individuals have since prevented many Black people from the opportunity to accumulate generational wealth and live the full American experience. This section shares statistics highlighting the costs of racial inequity and hint at the prosperity the region could achieve if it addressed racial justice and economic equity.