But despite progress in civil rights, the economic ledger has barely moved in the past six decades. Data from the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances showed the median wealth of white households is over six times that of Black households. And, in 2024, African Americans received just 0.4% of venture-capital funding to start new businesses. King’s insight that African Americans live “on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity” remains true in the U.S., decades later, just as it does for marginalized communities in many other countries.
The good news is that bridging the racial wealth gap would lift the entire economy—by $1.5 trillion—while strengthening the country’s competitiveness, per a 2019 McKinsey report. But we cannot expect to close these gaps without providing the tools to create sustainable wealth-building pathways. King understood that the dream of equality would remain deferred unless it was underwritten by equitable systems. We cannot grow what we do not fund.
Today, we are in the midst of a seismic wave of innovation and wealth creation enabled by AI. During prior waves, like the Industrial Revolution, Black Americans and other minority groups were left behind—or used as production inputs. We must approach the AI era differently, ensuring that communities that lack access to resources are able to fully participate as founders, funders, and owners in this next epoch of human development. Leaders across sectors must look in the mirror and ask: “Am I just celebrating the dream, or helping fulfill it?”
We must ensure historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have the capacity to train students to be leaders in AI innovation and adoption. This requires addressing the unconscionable reality that as recently as 2021, 82% of HBCUs existed in broadband deserts. The work of groups like Student Freedom Initiative provides proof that progress is possible, and the World Economic Forum’s EDISON Alliance, which digitally engaged more than a billion people, has laid the groundwork for much more. But broadband alone won’t be sufficient. HBCUs and their students must be resourced to provide AI education.
In addition, underserved communities must have access to the compute, or processing power, required to use AI tools at scale, and to the capital needed to support this revolution. Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs), which serve as capillaries in the U.S.’s mainstream financial system, often lack the oxygen that is cash and tech—but the Southern Communities Initiative, for which I am a board member, has made real progress in upgrading the technological capacity of CDFIs. We must also ensure that underserved communities have more on-ramps into the economy, at all levels, from internships to corporate boards.
More than any prior generation, we have real data on what’s needed and what works. King once said, “Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” In 1963, he issued a collection notice. It is time for all of us to work together to make good on what is owed.
Smith is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, and author of Lead Boldly: Seven Principles From Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
