Here is a non-paywalled version of the article, published about one year later: thefulcrum.us/bridging-com...

Full research & media coverage:

📄 Research: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...
🎙️ NPR: soundcloud.com/chika-okafor...

Making invisible inequality visible is how we know where to intervene. The arc of the moral universe doesn't bend itself—WE bend it.

📊 Policy brief: www.ipr.northwestern.edu/documents/po...

@ipratnu.bsky.social @npr.org @northwesternlaw.bsky.social

The new policy brief translates these findings for policymakers and civil rights leaders: wherever social networks influence opportunity—employment, education, housing, professional advancement—colorblind approaches systematically fail.

This research is published in the Journal of Law & Economics, peer-reviewed and quantified using national data on youth social networks.

Featured on @npr.org All Things Considered this past September.

Here's how it works: People naturally connect with others like themselves (homophily). Majority groups are larger. More connections = more job referrals = more opportunities.

Mathematical inevitability, not discriminatory intent.

My research reveals the mechanism: social network discrimination.

Systematic racial inequality emerges not from bias, but from invisible structural forces that operate even in supposedly "neutral" systems.

📄 For those interested in the full research, my peer-reviewed article is here: www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1...

This isn't about bad intentions. It's about math.

Where networks matter most—hiring, admissions, promotions—colorblind rules still reproduce inequality.

My research shows why “colorblind” policies don’t actually produce fairness — a dynamic I call social network discrimination:

1️⃣ Smaller groups form fewer ties, all else being equal
2️⃣ Networks amplify majority advantage
3️⃣ Fewer opportunities follow"

Explainer video of social network discrimination: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JqO...

Northwestern University press release: news.northwestern.edu/stories/2025...

This finding has major implications for post-affirmative action diversity policies and our understanding of what truly constitutes merit-based systems.

The reason is "social network discrimination"—a phenomenon I uncover in which minority groups receive fewer opportunities simply because their social group is smaller, even when everything else is equal.

No—as my research discovers.

Picture three employees at a networking event with job applicants. Everything is equal—same qualifications, same employment levels, no bias. But by the end, minority applicants receive fewer than 30% of the job referrals despite being over 33% of the group.

Imagine a world that is both fully equal and fully colorblind—satisfying the vision of both the political left and political right. Would outcomes between majority and minority groups remain fair over time?