Racial inequity has our economy rigged

Many people still think racism is intentional, conscious and personal. It’s not. As the economic crisis shows, we are facing racial inequities that have their roots in the explicit racism of earlier generations but which now devastate communities of color without intent. This is where we now need to turn our attention.

From Stop the Next American Nightmare by Seth Freed Wessler at Huffington Post

My take:

• The common argument that “the racism that happened in the past is not important today” is flatly wrong. Some complain that pollution today hurts children in the future. Others say that poor financial decisions will burden our children with unthinkable debts & deficits. In exactly the same fashion, the racism of our forefathers hurts people in the here and now.
• This is further evidence of the myth of the Post-Racial Society. In order for a Post-Racial Society to come into being, the racism and the remnants of that racism, and them impact of that racism must be dealt with justly.
• The problem is racism is at a minimum both moral & economic. Once one agrees that racism [and other manifestations of prejudice] are morally wrong, there are economic questions that must be addressed. The Applied Research Center’s report outlines how racism hurt both the hearts and wallets of people of color during this very recession.
• The solutions to the problem of racism help us all. I’m not a fan of playing the race card unjustifiably. However, when we justly and ethically deal with racist norms, policies and practices, all people benefit.
  • Fair lending practices benefit all people looking to qualify for a home or car loan.
  • Fair admissions & financial aid policies make college education accessible for all students.
  • A more responsible police force better protects all members of community.

One Love. One II.

Financial madness

First off I want to say Happy Birthday to my partner in crime…Mr. Garlin Gilchrist II.

This current crisis reminds me of something Bill Maher said, (I am paraphrasing) “Conservatives have the easiest job in the world because when they mess up doing things like governing, they can claim that government itself is the problem and whatever they planned to do wasn’t supposed to work anyways.” So now you have Democrats bending over backwards to make this deal work with House Republicans posturing against the bill.

And here is the problem, people keep saying that this bill is going to end up with a nice return for taxpayers right? If that was the case, then shouldn’t someone in the free market see this gem and buy it up so that taxpayers don’t have endure this socialism for the rich? What’s more is that if Obama said he wanted to invest $100 billion in education, conservatives would cry, “We already spent $700 billion on bailing out Wall Street and we can’t just throw away taxpayer money.” And a bold Democrat would respond by saying, “Wait, you just robbed taxpayers of a trillion dollars because businesses were too big to fail but we can definitely afford to let our children down in the form of disinvesting in education. And if money is not the cure all for whatever the issue, why does this logic apply to Wall St. and not education?”

Seriously, if there was ever anything that would prove a guaranteed return on investment, wouldn’t it be investing in education? Your money is where your heart is.

Stay up fam,

Brandon Q.