*Please RSVP to yale.aacc@gmail.com with "RSVP" in the subject line. The dinner is free but attendance is by RSVP ONLY. Dinner and keynote will take place in the Saybrook College Dining Hall.

Cosponsored by Saybrook College Mott-Atkins Fund & the Asian American Cultural Center

The Color of Wealth: The Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Gap

"Ching chong Chinaman, sitting on a fence / Trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents," went an old popular jingle. Today, a typical family of color still owns only 15 cents to the typical white family's dollar. Find out the story behind today's racial wealth gap, why it's important, and what we can do about it.

Until the end of 2007, Meizhu Lui was the Executive Director of United for a Fair Economy, a national non-profit that raises awareness about the growing gap between the very wealthy and everyone else. UFE brought public attention to the racial economic gap, and to the negative consequences racial inequality has on our economy as a whole. Her work for racial and gender equality has been recognized by numerous organizations such as the Labor Studies program at the UMass Boston, the Immigrant Workers' Resource Center, and the Union of Minority Neighborhoods. In 2007, she was selected for the Barr Fellows Program that honors the contributions of the most gifted and experienced leaders in the Boston area. She was also the first Asian to be elected President of a union local in Boston, Massachusetts.

Her articles have appeared in The Wealth Inequality Reader (Dollars & Sense, 2004), Inequality Matters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences (New Press, 2005), and 10 Excellent Reasons to Pay Your Taxes (New Press, 2008). She is a co-author of The Color of Wealth, The Story Behind the US Racial Wealth Divide (New Press, 2006).