Dorothy A. Brown

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown was interviewed on the Economic Policy Institute's podcast, "The State of Working America." She spoke with the institute's Eve Tahmincioglu and provided "a cross-disciplinary analysis exposing the racism of the American tax system."

Unemployment numbers don't tell full story of companies’ current labor challenges, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law says on "Morning Joe." A recent Pew study showed that two thirds of Americans "are thinking about what they want to do going forward," Brown said. "Do they want reexamine their field and their occupation?" Also, the unemployment rate is 9.1 percent for Black Americans, compared to 5.8 percent overall. Also overlooked is "while they're cutting staff, CEO pay has increased."

Talking with MSNBC's Chris Hayes on the anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre that burned "Black Wall Street" to ash, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown notes that dozens of similar assaults on Black excellence occurred across the country and that white U.S. citizens still benefit "in the 21st century from systemic racism that is not too distant past."

In an interview with Washington Post financial columnist Michelle Singletary, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown talks about her book, "The Whiteness of Wealth" and says the U.S. tax code has built in advantages for Whites, while it disadvantages Blacks. "Our tax laws were designed with White Americans in mind," Brown writes. "That's why no solution proposed by either the right or left — not better jobs, not increased homeownership, and not more access to higher education — will be effective without significant and fundamental tax reform."

Building wealth is hard, but the racial wealth gap makes just how difficult it is apparent. Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown joined the Washington Post's Michelle Singletary on NPR's 1A to discuss Brown's argument that the tax code is partially to blame.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown was a guest on "The View" to discuss how the tax code subsidizes white wealth and penalizes Black Americans, even when they participate in the exact same behaviors.

Black students tend to borrow more money than white students to go to college, and students at historically Black colleges and universities, in particular, borrow nearly twice as much as students at non-HBCUs, MarketPlace reports. Thus, donor Robert Smith's gift to pay off loans for 400 Morehouse students is doubly generous. "Student debt is a significant drag on Black college grads who have done everything right, their ability to produce wealth going forward," Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown said.

"A typical white family has eight times the wealth of a typical Black family in the United States,” Dean Obeidallah writes for Salon. The why behind that racial wealth gap has, until recently, overlooked one driving reason: The U.S. tax code. “That's why Dorothy Brown … wrote her compelling new book, 'The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans — and How We Can Fix It.'"

IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig told a Senate Finance Committee that it's not "outlandish" to believe the U.S. loses $1 trillion annually via owed taxes that aren't collected. Asa Griggs Professor of Law Dorothy Brown told the committee the problem is aggravated by a different tax gap — the favorable treatment the tax code provides wealthy, largely White taxpayers, compared to lower income, largely Black and Latino workers.

In a Q & A with Vox, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown talked about her book "The Whiteness of Wealth," and how to repair the tax code to remove provisions that benefit white citizens and disadvantage Black people. "My ideal tax system ... is one where pretty much all income is taxed under the same progressive rate system; we get rid of these deductions and exclusions that are overwhelmingly benefiting white Americans. And then we would create one deduction — I call it a living allowance — that's based on what you would need to live in the geographical area you're in."

During her testimony at a Senate Finance Committee Tuesday on inequality in the U.S. tax code, Asa Griggs Professor of Law Dorothy Brown agreed with GOP assertions that repealing the $10,000 cap on the deduction of state and local taxes would run counter to efforts to close income and wealth gaps. Brown told the panel that tax deductions tend to favor white over Black households, particularly since it is mostly wealthier Americans who still itemize on their returns following changes made in the 2017 tax code. 

The tax code is designed to build white wealth, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law tells New York Magazine. "If you're a Black American, going, 'What am I doing wrong?' The answer is nothing. The system is what's wrong."

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown, author of "The Whiteness of Wealth," was featured on the New Yorker Radio Hour to explain how the seemingly race-neutral tax code compounds inequalities and prevents Black people from building wealth.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown spoke on how racism and inequality are reflected in the American tax system. She was joined by Georgia State University Professor Maurice Hobson at a virtual event hosted by Charis Books and More in Decatur.

In her new book "The Whiteness of Wealth," Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown illustrates the way the tax code penalizes Blacks through the lens of Atlanta area homeowner "John," who wanted to raise his sons in a diverse neighborhood. Brown's research finds houses in Black neighborhood don’t appreciate like those in predominantly white neighborhoods. John sold at a loss and moved to a white neighborhood when the gap in property taxes affected the quality of his sons' schools. "This is just one of many ways that the U.S. tax code perpetuates the racial wealth gap," Brown writes for the New York Times. "Collecting tax data by race is a first and necessary step in making our tax laws more equitable."

President Joe Biden says he will increase corporate, estate, and capital gains taxes to fund his Build Back Better plan for infrastructure, green energy and education, among other priorities. Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown has argued capital gains should be taxed on equal footing with income, not just for those making $1 million or more. "If you really want to talk about tax reform that gets at systemic racism, look at the systemic racism that made stock ownership an activity white Americans have engaged in for decades but not Black Americans," she tells Vox.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown was interviewed at the Bloomberg Equality Summit, "Is the Tax Code Racist”?" about her new book "The Whiteness of Wealth" and how the code is geared to build white wealth. Loopholes and benefits concerning marriage, property and investments work against Blacks, she says. "It doesn’t matter how much income you have, tax law disadvantages Black Americans across the income spectrum."

"The IRS is unusual among federal agencies in never asking about race—the only information it requests is what it's required by law to ask and what it needs to calculate people's tax bills," according to Politico. If the IRS started collecting that data, it would show who benefits from tax breaks. "You would find provision after provision where white taxpayers are more likely to benefit than Black taxpayers," Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown said.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown is on the cover of the March 15 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek. Her new book, "The Whiteness of Wealth," details her ideas on how to overhaul a tax code geared to increase white wealth and results in Blacks paying more taxes for the same income.

Then presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren's proposal to institute a two percent tax on Americans with more than $50 million in assets illuminates the racial wealth gap, Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown told The Nation. "Given the gap, this tax will overwhelmingly hit white wealthy Americans," said Brown, who backs the idea. "Even wealthy black Americans don't reach the heights of a Bezos or Zuckerberg."

Congress' mammoth stimulus bill, the Cares Act, delivered a quick and happy benefit to some energy companies. For pipeline company Antero Midstream, it was a $55 million payment in the form of a tax refund. Congress could have required companies applying for tax breaks to show they needed the cash and to promise that they would not distribute it to shareholders or lay off employees, Professor Dorothy A. Brown tells the Washington Post. Instead, the tax breaks were too broad in their applicability, she said, and "you see corporations taking money and laying off employees."

Professor Dorothy Brown discusses recent revelations about President Trump's tax records, his businesses and the tax code itself on NPR's "On Point." She was joined by Planet Money's Adam Davidson and Forbes editor Dan Alexander.

While the scandal surrounding the release of President Donald Trump's tax returns may reveal some unflattering things about his business practices, it's also an indictment of the tax code, Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown tells Vox. "The real wealthy don't save money on taxes by losing money and generating losses. The true wealthy in America have their wealth in investments that are taxed at a preferential rate. They build wealth with the help of federal tax policy, which taxes them less," Brown said.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy Brown joined Bloomberg News to discuss the capital gains tax cut proposed by President Trump. That would benefit the richest citizens, not the middle class, she said. A more equitable solution? "Go back to the Reagan Tax Reform Act of 1986, believe it or not, where wages were taxed at the same income level, the same rate as gains from stock," she said. "That's the only right answer. There's absolutely no justification for giving a special break to capital that we don’t give to labor."

Regardless of race, most crime victims and perpetrators are of the same race, so public figures talking about "black on black" crime after police brutality isn't relevant, Professor Dorothy Brown tells 11Alive News. The latter is state-sanctioned and often occurs in communities that are over-policed, she said. "It's not again that violent crime isn't serious, of course it's serious, but, I should be able to walk down this street and not be murdered by police. Period, full stop," Brown said. "And anyone who tries to change the subject is really telling me, you don’t care about black lives."

Professor Dorothy Brown is quoted in the New York Times on Elizabeth Warren's research on race and economics, including when Senator Warren spoke at Brown's 2004 symposium on critical race theory. She recalled Warren had spoken about how Black college graduates were more likely to file for bankruptcy, because of the student debt they carried. "When she presented, she freaked everybody out with her research," Brown said. "She blew us all away."

In his remarks at the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis' funeral, former President Barack Obama acknowledged his own accomplishments were made possible by standing on the congressman's shoulders, Professor Dorothy Brown writes in an opinion article for CNN. Lewis showed extraordinary courage the day he boarded a bus with a friend in 1960, Obama said. "Imagine the courage of two people Malia's age--younger than my oldest daughter--on their own to challenge an entire infrastructure of oppression." Lewis has passed the baton to protect voting rights to us, Brown says.

While Black Lives Matters murals may go viral, they don't improve schools, raise minimum wage, create jobs or "stop the next murder of a Mr. Floyd," Professor Dorothy Brown tells Yahoo. "They don't do anything that would root out the systemic racism that’s holding Black Americans behind."

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to sue Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms over her announcement to enforce wearing masks in public demonstrates he doesn’t care about Black citizens, who are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN.

A massive new study of more than 10 years and 118 million tax assessments found Black homeowners pay, on average, 10 to 13% more in property taxes each year than a white family in the same situation. Black-owned homes were usually assessed at higher values, relative to their actual sale price, than white-owned homes. "Homeownership in America has always been about race and who could buy a home has always been a function of racism," Professor Dorothy Brown tells WAMU 88.5.

As Congress debates whether and when to send a second round of stimulus checks to offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, some Republican lawmakers have proposed dropping the income standard below the previous one of $75,000. "To the extent they make it a lower income cutoff than the last time, it will hurt more people," Professor Dorothy Brown told the Washington Post, noting that many Americans will face the lifting of eviction moratorium. "This will have drastic human consequences."

Professor Dorothy Brown discusses critical race theory, systemic racism, over-policing in black communities and "the disparate impact of the law on Black America," with Mohamed Younis, editor-in-chief of Gallup's digital news team. The podcast discusses how systemic racism affects U.S. courts and workplaces. "The easy answer is that the law is not colorblind in America," Brown says.

Corporate America has responded to nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd with a wave of public statements condemning racism, or by contributing financially to support to Black Lives Matter. But there's an underlying assumption, Professor Dorothy Brown tells Marker, that failing to make promised changes around race gets a pass--unlike failing to make promised changes around revenue or profits. CEO payouts or bonuses could be tied to keeping those promises. "Some CEO needs to lose their job because they failed at this," Brown said. "Make CEO pay dependent upon Black employee lives mattering."

Mary of the companies now expressing solidarity with black businesses and anti-discrimination have contributed to systemic inequality through their products as well as their hiring and compensation practices, the New York Times reports. "Most of these corporate statements were put together by the marketing team that was trying not to offend white customers and white employees," said Professor Dorothy A. Brown. "It’s complete B.S. It’s performative."

Professor Dorothy A. Brown talks with Yahoo News about how both the trauma of George Floyd's death and the disproportionate deaths of black people caused by COVID19 are affecting the mental health of the black community.

In an opinion article for CNN, Professor Dorothy A. Brown says the day George Floyd died is when police reform became possible. "Yet none of this would have happened without the bravery of a teenager--17-year-old Darnella Frazier (who filmed the police actions that led to Floyd's death). "The nation owes her a debt of gratitude. Also, June 2 will be recalled as the day George W. Bush got on the right side of history, Brown says, by making a public statement which included: "Achieving justice for all is the duty of all."

Professor Dorothy A. Brown talked with "Marketplace" host Kai Ryssdal about the longstanding economic divide for black Americans and its relationship to current protests. While not the immediate instigating factor, Brown says there's a direct line between the two. "When we think about state and local government budgets and how much of taxpayer dollars, including black taxpayer dollars, that are spent on policing as opposed to social programs, yes, there's a direct line."

"The 2020 Democratic field does not appear to have learned much from the 2008 and 2016 elections," Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. Russian interference in the 2016 election capitalized on our racial divide, she says. The upheaval that followed Barack Obama's election "allows anyone paying attention to see that we have not turned a corner when it comes to racism… Will we turn Trump's election into an opportunity to tackle racism head-on, or remain in our comfort zones? I know one thing: Russia will be watching," she writes.

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang proposes to give American adults $1,000 per month in basic income to offset job losses from automation. He says we could pay for it with a Euro-style value-added tax, but Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown tells NewsHour that the proposal raises more questions than answers and could disproportionately affect low-income earners. "The devil's in the details," she said. "A VAT on all goods and services is basically taking money out of the pockets of the people you're trying to put the money in."

Professor Dorothy A. Brown has been named Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law. Brown is a Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law and an advocate for economic and social justice.

"This month marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager who was killed by Darren Wilson, a white police officer who was never brought to justice," Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. While some improvements have come from the resulting Justice Department investigation and report, "the work of progress is unfinished in Ferguson and in the rest of the country. No one is coming to save us from racist violence: we have to save each other," she says.

"President Trump spoke on Tuesday in Jamestown, Virginia, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of American democracy--the year that Virginia, the first English colony, held its first General Assembly of representatives," Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. "But this year marks another anniversary: it marks the 400th year the first enslaved Africans were brought to America--specifically to Jamestown."

Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown's op-ed for CNN addresses Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's comments at a NYC fundraiser. "Biden's remarks Tuesday were a sobering reminder of his checkered legislative history on issues affecting people of color," she writes. "So as he tries to win the Democratic nomination in 2020, Biden should be careful--not cocky, not defiant--about rhetoric that offends people of color. The black vote may be his to lose."

"There is apparently no issue--large or small-involving the rights and advancement of people of color that the president won't weigh in on, with his thumb on the scale," Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. From his family's refusal to rent to blacks in the 70s, his call for the deaths of the Central Park Five, his challenge of Barack Obama's citizenship, and now, the delay of putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill, Trump should rightfully be called "our white-supremacist-in-chief," she says, noting, "In 2016, candidate Trump told NBC that stripping his favorite president, the populist and slave owner, Andrew Jackson, from the $20 bill was 'pure political correctness.'"

Professor Dorothy Brown was interviewed on Curbed's "Nice Try," podcast about the 1950s Levittown pursuit of backyard utopia and how postwar suburbia actively kept out African Americans. "These developments typically excluded African Americans, deepening racial inequality and locking millions out of the dream of homeownership, the most infamous being Levittown," the story says, "while William Levitt used explicit racial covenants and other tactics to keep his developments white."

Democratic presidential candidates say they want to narrow the enduring black-white wealth gap in America. But their proposed policies don't use the most direct way possible--by steering benefits to African-Americans, a New York Times columnist writes. The mortgage interest deduction, disproportionately benefits white families, as do tax advantages for the rich, who are more likely to be white. "The first and most efficient approach is targeting relief to the people who were targeted with discrimination," said Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown.

Emory Law professor Dorothy Brown discussed the history of the U.S. marginal tax rate with with NPR's Scott Simon on "Weekend Edition." There was outrage this week at the suggestion of a 70 percent tax rate, but Brown says "Marginal tax rates went as high as 94 percent in the mid-'40s. It was also 91 percent as late as 1963. We had a 70 percent marginal tax rate as late as 1980. And currently, our marginal tax rate is 37 percent. So we've had very high marginal tax rates for many, many years."

Dorothy Brown has been selected to receive the Vulcan Teaching Excellence Award, given through the Georgia Independent College Association (GICA).

President Trump has tweeted a frightening video of an undocumented immigrant from Mexico talking about killing police in the past and in the future, Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. But,"The research is clear," she says. "Undocumented and legal immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born American citizens." Trump's card is racism, but his ad might prove to be his "biggest political blunder yet," she writes.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp has targeted Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams over her $54,000 debt to the IRS. Abrams says she's paying it back. Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown, an expert on tax law, told WABE: "Its' fairly common for the IRS and taxpayers to work out debt. You agree to a payment plan, you keep the payments up, everybody's happy." She also questioned whether the attacks will resonate with voters. "You're not going to necessarily make headway with the average American that is in debt," she said.

Dorothy Brown, professor of law, has been named a co-recipient of the 2018 Clyde Ferguson Award by the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Minority Groups.

Tax reform could be crafted to create inclusive growth, but the proposed GOP plan will only exacerbate the racial wealth gap and lift inequality growth, according to economists and tax lawyers, Newsweek reports. "Tax law is generally created with white taxpayers in mind and this is another example of that," said Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown, who focuses on tax policy by race and class. "This plan privileges the way whites experience America."

Trump's Chief of Staff, Gen. John Kelly, was wrong to call Congresswoman Frederica Wilson an "empty barrel" at a recent press conference concerning President Trump's phone call to the family of a serviceman killed in Niger, Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. Nor should he have misquoted her 2015 comments at the dedication of an FBI building. "With this press conference, Kelly has done his president and the country a disservice. He took a tragic situation and made it worse. He owes his boss and the country an apology," Brown writes.

There's a reason politicians prefer tax code spending over spending through the budget, Marketplace reports. Because once policy is in place, it doesn't come up for review like budget spending does. "When you start talking about changing these tax expenditures, changing the provisions of the code, then it becomes public again," said Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown. If you take away that tax break you sold before, it looks like a tax increase. "Everybody comes out of the woodwork and says this is the worst thing possible."

NPR asked Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown to discuss the GOP's latest tax proposal, and she found it will likely benefit those who are wealthy and white. Keeping the mortgage interest deduction will "benefit more whites than blacks and Latinos, who don't own homes to the same extent," Brown said on Weekend Edition. And "retirement plans from private employers tend to go to those who hold jobs at the higher incomes which, again, tend to be disproportionately white. So we know that even with the minimal sketching that we see in the Trump tax plan, rich, white Americans are going to benefit the most."

Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown was quoted in the Washington Post on how race affects home-buying and property values. The article says while Prince George's County home values are rising now (after it experienced disproportionately higher foreclosure rates during the recession) home values there are still among the lowest in the D.C. region. "Because whites are the primary purchasers in the home-buying market their preference dominates the market," Brown said. "They are generally uncomfortable living in communities that are not all white, or almost all white." When more than 10 percent of families in a neighborhood are black, home values fall because the community becomes less attractive to white buyers, Brown said.

Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal interviewed Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown on President Donald Trump's recent statement that job creation would improve race relations. Brown disagrees. "Here's the problem," she said. "The research shows us that even when you are a black graduate with a Harvard degree, you are treated not as well as white graduates with a Harvard degree. There is research that talked about the number of employer responses and they found that blacks needed to apply to far more jobs in order to get responses from employers than whites did. So the private sector, employers are not colorblind when they hire."

"For many African-American families, securing a college degree holds the promise of securing a middle-class life with financial stability," a Chicago Reporter story says. But a recent study finds that for middle-class blacks, "social mobility is a double-edged sword." Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown is quoted on how neighborhood diversity affects home prices. "Research shows homes in majority black neighborhoods do not appreciate as much as homes in overwhelmingly white neighborhoods."

As the world reflects up on the presidency of Barack Obama and prepares for a transfer of power, CNN presents 11 commentaries on his legacy. Professor Dorothy Brown comments on the exceptionalism of electing the first black President versus the reality of racism. "Symbolism, it turned out, was a bad thing for addressing anti-black racism in America", said Brown. "The symbolism of a black President prevented America from grappling with the reality of how exceptional his victory and his story really was."

Revelations that Donald Trump may have used $916 million in losses to sidestep paying federal income taxes for nearly two decades doesn't demonstrate exceptionally crafty tax work, Professor Dorothy Brown, a scholar in tax policy, told the AJC. "It's basic," she said. While the system may be flawed, using such a loss is legal. "If there's a genius, it is not the guy who signed the return, but the person who prepared the return," Brown said.

The New York Times says in 1995, Donald Trump reported a nearly $1 billion loss from his businesses--a loss large enough to have potentially allowed him to earn an average of $50 million a year, tax-free, for 18 years. Trump appears to have done what many other rich Americans have done: hire cunning professionals to help them preserve their wealth and avoid taxes. As Professor Dorothy Brown puts it, "It's not criminal, but it's awful, it's unfair, it's unjust."

Georgetown's announcement it will rename buildings, establish an institute to study slavery, and extend preferential treatment in admissions for descendants of the 272 slaves it sold in 1838 "are all welcome steps," says Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown. However, the sale "at its core was a financial decision," she writes. "Georgetown needed money and sold 'property' to enable it to pay debts and keep the doors open." The university should set aside $3.3 million (the inflation adjusted amount of the 1838 sale proceeds) "in a fund administered by a court-appointed official to oversee the requests of the descendants ... for how they want Georgetown to atone to them."

Are the wealthiest colleges educating enough low-income students? Some argue that given their affluence and tax breaks, they should do more, says a recent Chronicle of Higher Education story. Colleges strive to be the best at things they care about, says Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown, but few strive for racial or socioeconomic diversity. "As long as they're in the range of their peers, then everything is good. Somehow mediocrity was fine when we're talking about diversity."

Unforeseen events and financial missteps can wreck households. But for minorities, "it's far, far more likely," according to an Atlantic story. "Tax law is a political, a social, and an economic document. So of course there are going to be racial disparities," Professor Dorothy Brown said. "To say, 'the tax law is neutral' is just nonsense." One example is the "marriage penalty" which disproportionately affects black couples. Whites are also more likely to have access to pensions and other retirement plans, which help build tax-free wealth for later in life.

"What would a top law school have to do in order to entice university administrators to decide to shut it down?" Professor and Vice Provost Dorothy Brown asks in a Forbes opinion article. "Primarily, the law school would have to be hemorrhaging a lot of money over a sustained period of time with no end in sight," she says. "In two to four years, a university administration will shut down a top law school and we may never see it coming."

Emory University School of Law presents a lecture by Sherrilyn Ifill, president & director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The event will be held Thursday, January 14, at 6 p.m. in Tull Auditorium at 1301 Clifton Road, Atlanta, 30322.

On WABE's "Closer Look," Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown discussed her class exploring the "Ferguson Movement" and how the discussions over police-involved shootings have changed over the course of the semester.

Emory Law hosted a panel discussion about The Ferguson Movement course, gathering the professors who are contributing for a look into their sections of the in-demand class.

Credit Suisse's 2015 annual global wealth report says the top 1 percent now own half of all household wealth worldwide, and more of that wealth is coming from stocks and bonds. Unfortunately, in the U.S., "half the public doesn't own stock at all," said Vice Provost and Professor Dorothy Brown. That inevitably means the wealth gap gets wider, says MarketPlace writer Nancy Marshall-Genzer.

"The American tax code is one of the most impenetrable elements of our society. Surprising, considering how it affects your life every single day," according to Vice News' "The Business of Life." Vice Provost and Professor Dorothy Brown was a panelist on a recent episode of the show. The premise was to break down how taxes are distributed--"and what happens if you try to evade them." Brown was joined by Lee Sheppard of Tax Notes and Ben Casselman of FiveThirtyEight.

The recent encounter between presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and #blacklivesmatter representatives was revealing, Vice Provost and Professor Dorothy Brown writes for CNN. Racial bias in policing and the criminal justice system wasn't created by blacks, and they should not have to provide a solution, she says. "Clinton was onto something when she said she would talk to white people, because that's exactly what she needs to do," Brown says. "[She] should begin each of her stump speeches with a discussion of her plans to end systemic racism in the criminal justice system..

In the year since a Missouri police officer shot and killed an unarmed black teenager, a new generation has taken up the fight of the civil rights movement that changed the face of America decades before they were even born, Kendall Trammell writes in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Professor Dorothy Brown is co-teaching a fall course on the effects of Ferguson. "I want them to walk away with more critical thinking skills," she said of her students. "Don't just believe it because a talking head said it. Don't believe me just because I said it. Really think about what I'm saying. What evidence do I bring?"

South Carolina state Rep. Jenny Horne is an overnight national hero because of her speech on the State House floor, arguing for the "immediate and swift removal" of the Confederate flag, writes Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown. "She became as angry as most of the blacks in South Carolina have been about this issue for years. Black anger, however, wasn't sufficient," Brown writes. "In order for the flag to come down we needed white anger. And several hours after Horne 's speech, the final vote was taken by the South Carolina legislature to remove the Confederate flag."

Jeb Bush's tax returns show that like most of us, he's penalized by the disparity between tax rates on income and capital gains that favor the truly wealthy.

As in the movie "Rashomon," multiple perspectives tell varied and conflicting stories about the McKinney, Texas pool party incident between a police officer and a 14-year-old girl. According to Emory Law professor Dorothy Brown, race had everything to do with the way the confrontation.

Dorothy Brown, professor of law and vice provost of Emory University, says that the new John Lewis Chair in Civil Rights and Social Justice is "an opportunity to solidify Emory¿s ties to Atlanta and 'carry the baton forward.'"

Emory Law professor Dorothy A. Brown writes about how Ben Affleck and Henry Louis Gates missed an opportunity to discuss racial issues when they decided not to air a segment of the TV documentary, "Finding Your Roots," which uncovered that one of Affleck's ancestors was a slave owner.

"Routine stops for walking in the middle of the street or driving with a broken taillight--these should not result in anyone's death. But time and again it ends with a black man dead in the street and the community has no recourse," Emory Law Professor and Vice Provost Dorothy Brown writes. "This time the stage was set in North Charleston, South Carolina, a city of about 100,000 people. Walter Scott was stopped by Officer Michael Slager for a broken taillight, and within minutes Scott was dead."

The National Journal featured a Q & A with Emory Law Professor and Vice Provost Dorothy Brown, who has called for Congress to make their tax returns public for years. "I have been writing and thinking about tax reform--or, I should say, the lack of tax reform--for a really long time. The typical American cannot take advantage of most of the deductions and loopholes that I believe members of Congress are taking advantage of because of their incomes. And I believe, if the public saw this great disparity, they might demand tax reform from the bottom up."

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz "watched the tragic events in Ferguson and elsewhere and wanted to be part of the solution," Vice Provost and Emory Law Professor Dorothy Brown writes for Forbes. "He is to be commended for that, not pilloried." But asking baristas to lead the #RaceTogether campaign failed because "talking about race with a stranger, much less a stranger of a different race, is fraught with anxiety, and to do it well requires preparation and skill." Brown offers a few suggestions for what Starbucks can do next.

Emory University says it will offer a course this coming fall on the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. "Ferguson touches a lot of different areas," says Emory Law Professor and Vice Provost Dorothy Brown, who helped create the class. "So people tend to think of it as policing and criminal law, but there's so much more to it." It will be open to undergraduates and graduate students, with enrollment open through March 18.