Sort by
In the media

There are many rich minorities. So why are there no black Koch brothers?

Public Integrity

The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has made it even more difficult for minorities to affect politics with money, said Adam Lioz, political director for the left-leaning advocacy group Demos.

The Federal Reserve released data last year that found white families had more wealth than any other racial group, and the Citizens United decision expanded wealthy people’s ability to spend their money on politics in unlimited fashion.   

“There are a lot of people of color making strides, but a troubling racial wealth gap persists,” Lioz said. [...]

That’s why people such as Demos’ Lioz advocate for small-donor public financing as a way of equalizing political spending and including more people.

“Folks who are able to contribute large amounts of money are able to write rules of the economy, leaving other working Americans on the sidelines,” he said. “That's the vicious cycle and Citizens United has added fuel to that fire.”