Addressing Racial Inequalities in America- A United Nations SDG Audit of US Black Communities

Following the 2020 anti-racism and Black Lives Matter protests, promises for racial equality proliferated, yet substantive progress remains elusive. Against a backdrop of historical injustices and intergenerational trauma, the Black Audit Project began to use the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to assess cities in the United States on the fulfillment and protection of Afro-descendants’ human rights. This Capstone continued the Black Audit Project’s work by using the SDGs to understand the wellbeing of Afro-descendant communities in Detroit, Michigan and Kansas City, Missouri. By documenting historical harms and the contemporary impacts of racial discrimination and systemic oppression, this analysis contributed to making the case that reparations should be funded and supported by policy in order for the United States to achieve the SDGs. 

This Capstone democratized data collection by centering the community’s expertise and autonomy over local repair. UN PFPAD directed and guided connections to community leaders, advocacy groups, and service organizations that were already engaged in addressing the structural inequalities caused by racist policymaking. In Kansas City, local partners were members of the Mayor’s Commission on Reparations, the KC Reparations Coalition, and the Office of the City Manager’s Equity Office. In Detroit, local partners were members of the City of Detroit Reparations Task Force. Ultimately, this Capstone aimed to place the health and wellbeing of the Kansas City and Detroit Black communities at the center of public policy and to position the voices of the Afro-descendant community at the forefront of said policies.