Kyle Risdahl

Bond prices went down.

Bond prices went down.

The yield on the 10-year T-note rose to 4.29%.

The yield on the 10-year T-note rose to 4.29%.

You're listening to Marketplace.

You're listening to Marketplace.

This is Marketplace.

This is Marketplace.

I'm Kai Risdahl.

I'm Kai Risdahl.

I try to make a point of it every month when the jobs report comes out of highlighting the disparity between the overall unemployment rate in the United States, 4.4 percent as of the December reading, and the unemployment rate for black Americans, 7.5 percent last month, seven and a half percent.

I try to make a point of it every month when the jobs report comes out of highlighting the disparity between the overall unemployment rate in the United States, 4.4 percent as of the December reading, and the unemployment rate for black Americans, 7.5 percent last month, seven and a half percent.

Employment numbers, though, are far from the only thing setting black Americans apart in this economy, both historically and today.

Employment numbers, though, are far from the only thing setting black Americans apart in this economy, both historically and today.

And the idea that maybe we ought to do something about that is not new, but it is perhaps underexplored.

And the idea that maybe we ought to do something about that is not new, but it is perhaps underexplored.

Dorothy Brown is a professor of law at Georgetown University.

Dorothy Brown is a professor of law at Georgetown University.

She's also the author of a new book called Getting to Reparations, How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past.

She's also the author of a new book called Getting to Reparations, How Building a Different America Requires a Reckoning with Our Past.