Pre-Read notes

This book seeks to define what Black Power looks like using data. But really this puts too simple a spin on it. I prefer this, from Perry's introduction to the book: Black Power Scorecard uses data to identify the key goals necessary for expanding and securing power, which help set priorities, such as increasing homeownership, for example, over winning Oscar or Grammy awards, or investing in Black-owned businesses rather than creating conditions to enlarge the number of Black billionaires. This book aims to create a hierarchy of indicators of power that, if addressed, would enhance Black people’s influence and ability to achieve other goals that are ranked lower in the hierarchy. Black Power Scorecard will demonstrate why prioritizing homeownership can in fact lead to winning more Grammys, laying out the strategic focus on empowering the Black community broadly and effectively. p9

Certainly a worthy concept in a genre I consistently appreciate. Really excited for this one!

Final Review to come

While we wring our hands over the lagging educational achievements of Black, Latino, and Native students, these campaigns remind us that there is an education crisis among white students in America, too . According to the latest NAEP results, white students demonstrate a limited understanding of history, scoring twenty-two points below the minimum level of achievement, or “cut score,” on the NAEP US history exam....p113

Review summary and recommendations

New Orleans, which experienced the greatest engineering and social service disaster in the country’s history when its levee system failed , could stand to produce a few engineers from the hood. p114

Reading Notes

Two things I loved:

1. Instead, the goal of utilizing business as a tool for Black empowerment is to foster equal opportunity and engagement in markets, and to achieve these aims through innovation. Black individuals have consistently endeavored to innovate the markets themselves, liberating all people from discrimination. p62 This book is very solution-driven, which I appreciate. Examining a problem is so much more valuable when creative solutions are at hand.

2. Interestingly, their difficulties in the labor market tend to predate their incarceration, with only 49 percent of prime-age men employed three years prior to imprisonment, earning an annual median of $ 6,250. These continuity-in-employment challenges suggest that while incarceration may affect earnings (and marriageability), the root causes of labor market struggles for ex-prisoners likely preceded their time in prison, restricting economic growth and human development. p101 As an abolitionist, I'm concerned with the impact of prison time on freed prisoners' livelihoods, but I never thought to look at it from this angle, as a continuum from before prison to after prison. It opens a different perspective on racism in all facets of contemporary USian life.

Two quibbles:

1. This book supplies a ton of data, which is useful, but that much data needs brilliant organization. The organization here falls short. Sometimes, the point gets buried in the data, where transitions are lacking. More often the point drown in the data, where there are too many datum offered in one point. This book struggles with both.

2. On the reading portion of the NAEP, 17 percent of Black students performed at or above proficient levels in 2022, showing a 1 percent decrease since 2019. However, according to data from 1992, only 8 percent of Black students achieved proficiency. On eighth-grade reading, 16 percent of Black students performed at or above proficient levels in 2022, a slight increase over the 15 percent recorded in 2019. Comparatively, the data from 1992 shows that 9 percent of Black students were proficient. p108 This paragraph is just packed with data. This book contains a number of similarly daunting paragraphs. I think perhaps visualizing some of this might have given the reader a hand.

Notes

1. Very dry academic style here. Bad or good? Depends on what you prefer, but I expect some sawdust when I read nonfiction!

Rating: 📍📍📍.5 /5 data points
Recommend? yes!
Finished: Apr 23 '25
Format: accessible digital arc, NetGalley
Read this book if you like:
👩🏻‍🎓 academic nonfiction
📈 data analysis
⚖️ books about social justice
👩🏾‍🦱 books about critical race theory

Thank you to the author Andre M. Perry, publishers Metropolitan Books, and NetGalley for an accessible digital arc of Black Power Score Card. All views are mine.
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We have to read stuff like this. Closing that racial gap is essential for a healthy and functioning society. I liked it. It is clearly well written. It was not one of those books that I start and cannot put down but I enjoyed it. I did learn a lot.

Black Power Scorecard: Measuring the Racial Gap and What We Can Do to Close It by Andre M. Perry provides some strategies for closing the racial gap in the American Landscape. The ideas in this book are easy to understand and provides actionable solutions without specific implementation details. The only failure with the implementation of the book, is that it does not actually provide the summary of these ideas and how to measure them in a final chapter and in an actual scorecard format.

Thank you Henry Holt & Company | Metropolitan Books, Netgalley, and Goodreads for the opportunity to read this in an eBook and print format. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3 Stars
Pub Date: Apr 15 2025

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This is a good book, it is very based on data and research and so probably doesn't have anything new for those who have read other books on this topic, but has some hard facts to back it up. This is a very important message, which might not get heard given the current state of affairs.

Andre M. Perry’s Black Power Scorecard offers a timely critique of the systemic barriers facing Black Americans, arguing for a collective framework to measure Black power rather than an individualistic one. By addressing wealth, policy, and systemic inequalities, Perry presents a compelling case for a holistic approach to change, supported by measurable statistics and modern examples. The book effectively dispels myths, balances hard facts with accessible writing, and offers actionable solutions for individuals and policymakers alike. While a deeper dive into personal narratives would enhance the impact, this is a must-read for anyone invested in racial equity and social justice. Highly recommended!