Susan Rice: Racism Has Cost U.S. Economy $16 Trillion

Susan Rice, a senior aide to President Joe Biden, claimed that anti-black racism had cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion over the last 20 years.

“In the last 20 years, the U.S. had a GDP shortfall of $16 trillion due to discrimination against black Americans,” Rice said during a speech on Wednesday at the National Action Network convention.

Rice, director of the United States Domestic Policy Council, claimed that the U.S. GDP would increase by “another $5 trillion” if racial discrimination was addressed.

“If we closed our racial gaps, we could add another $5 trillion to GDP over just the next five years,” Rice said. “And in case you’re wondering, that’s not my math. That’s according to Citibank. We all benefit when every community has the chance to thrive.”

Rice relied on a Citibank report titled “Closing The Racial Inequality Gaps: The Economic Cost of Black Inequality in the U.S,” which claimed “$2.7 trillion would have been available for consumption while business income would have increased by $13 trillion, creating 6.1 million new jobs a year if ‘racial gaps’ for black Americans were closed,” according to the Daily Caller.

Other speakers at the National Action Network included activists and politicians like Kerry Washington, Democrat Senate Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Al Sharpton, Benjamin Crump, and George Floyd’s brothers.

Later in her address, Rice claimed black history is being “erased” from classrooms and textbooks in states like Florida, where “critical race theory” (CRT) is banned from public school classrooms.

“Today, in states across the nation, we’re seeing bans on innocuous children’s books, just because they feature prominently black or brown characters,” Rice said.

“We’re seeing black history erased from our classrooms and textbooks. And make no mistake those who are doing this are trying to tell us that we do not count That we do not matter. And that perhaps we should not exist. Black history is American history,” she added. “Truth is truth. We must fight to protect our history.”

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.