In her presentation, Lui will explore why the distribution of wealth in the United States is so uneven; whether public policy, even when well intentioned, reinforces existing inequalities; and whether or not race and ethnicity continue to play a pivotal role in defining the haves and have-nots in society.

Meizhu Lui’s articles have appeared in the Wealth Inequality Reader and Inequality Matters; the magazines Yes!, Orion, and Social Policy; and Black Commentator. After working as a hospital food service worker and AFSCME activist for 20 years, Lui became the first Asian president of a local union in Massachusetts.

She currently serves on the Center for American Progress National Initiative to End Poverty and as a Trustee of the Hyams Foundation in Boston. She is a long-time member of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. Her work in Boston has been honored by the YWCA, the Immigrant Workers’ Resource Center, Mass Senior Action Council, Boston Women’s Fund, Big Sisters Association, and Labor Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts--Boston.