Comments on: Rich, Black Folk

By: Cassie

Cassie — Fri, 04 Nov 2016 17:22:28 +0000

Watching the video one part that struck me was when talking about meritocracy and “pulling yourself up by your boot straps” many people often forget that some people don’t have boots at all. I think this is interesting and a potential way to explain why color-blind ideology is problematic and that referring to the exceptions as you mention doesn’t make this idea any more true. Government funding in this way is an idea I haven’t heard of to narrow the gap, but I think it’s intriguing. In an ideal world this sounds great, but I think it gets problematic when there aren’t other systems and programs put in place to accompany it, as Jessica mentions above. I also think it walks a fine line of too much government intervention, especially in U.S. society where “government control” is often seen as an invasion. I think this program has potential, but it also seems to assume that this problem of financial inequality between race can be solved just by money. In other words, trying to solve the effect of racial attitudes and institutionalization of racism rather than focus on what caused the gap in the first place.

By: Jessica Sperber

Jessica Sperber — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 22:30:16 +0000

The idea of a government fund is an interesting one! I like it from the extent that it addresses economic inequality right from the start – from when a child is born. Most of the social remedies we’ve established to address inequalities kick in much later in life – like affirmative action policies, free preschool, busing, etc. I think if a policy like that were to be proposed, however, there would be massive backlash to it. For those that argue affirmative action is unfair to whites, this I feel would completely cross the line for them. That reaction might be connected to perceiving African Americans as somehow “undeserving” or lazy. I think in addition to policies like this, there needs to be support on all sides of the issue. So, rather than just throwing money at a low-income community, we should ask questions like “where can we support kids and families more? Are we encouraging & coaching our kids on college preparation? Do the families have the right resources to go about this process?” Otherwise, without instructions on how to use the resources, the funds would be helpless.