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We have multiple crises going on right now. There’s the pandemic, police violence against Black individuals, and let’s not forget climate change. Then there’s the crisis that I personally spend a lot of time thinking about, which is the growing wealth and income gaps.
This crisis, which is being exacerbated by the pandemic, has been brewing for decades, even centuries, and disproportionately affects people of color. The riots and looting that followed some of the peaceful protests can be viewed as symptoms of these widening economic gaps.
Recently, I wrote to one of my congressional representatives, urging her to bring forward some solutions to address this economic crisis. I listed six specific things. It wasn’t an exhaustive list, but it was a start.
On that list, I said we needed to increase the minimum wage to a livable wage. This is the only issue she addressed in her response. She said the minimum wage can’t be increased because it would burden small businesses. This is a standard argument against increasing the minimum wage, so I half expected it. But I also found it troubling because of the racism inherent in this line of thinking.
Here’s why that argument is inherently racist: By and large, small-business owners are white people, while low-income people are disproportionately people of color. Low wages systemically inhibit people of color from actions like buying homes, getting advanced degrees or certifications and, in fact, becoming small-business owners.
Additionally, the argument that small businesses should be protected from the burdens of paying livable wages does not consider the burdens low wages put on individuals (of color) who are left struggling to navigate the insufficient, overly complex and stigmatized social safety net.
Instead of trying to fix a social safety net that will assuredly never be sufficient to meet the needs of the millions of Americans who struggle financially, it seems more efficient and feasible to channel resources into a mechanism for offsetting the financial burden small businesses would face if the minimum wage were increased.
Likely, small-business owners already have people like attorneys and accountants who could help them navigate it. Such a system would also remove the indirect public subsidy large corporations receive when their employees do not make adequate wages and are forced to rely on public assistance.
But, as my congresswoman’s response shows, such an idea is not even considered. Why? Good policy should be able to both protect small businesses and support workers. This seems relatively simple. But it is complicated by racism.
This is an example of how and why we must apply a racial lens to policymaking. Racism in our country is pervasive and is supported by policies that favor white people and leave the rest behind. But we can and must change. We must do better.
Every time we feel inclined to argue against measures that provide some justice to our state’s most economically vulnerable and disenfranchised residents, we—especially leaders—need to carefully consider: Are we not supporting racism?•
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Chambers is a doctoral student at IUPUI, where she is studying economic development and neighborhood change in Indianapolis.
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Good grief; how does such a bleeding-heart liberal have enough blood left to circulate and sustain her life?
Yeah, Ms. Chambers, we need to do better. We could start by returning to the idea of supporting, respecting, and encouraging married, intact, heterosexual families as our culture’s bedrock for bearing and raising secure, productive citizens who respect life and the property rights of others. That is the cornerstone on which The United States of America was built. Chipping away at it will produce a pile of rubble, as witnessed by the currently boarded-up downtowns in too many big cities, including Indianapolis.
Your wholesale failure to address absentee fathers, primarily but not limited to black fathers, suggests your misunderstanding of why our culture is so beset with the problems it now faces.
Money will not solve our problems….indeed, suggesting that money will solve our problems, however distributed as unearned, is throwing gasoline on a fire that is already consuming us. There are more holes in your writing than good swiss cheese.
I suggest you spend more time in the real world before pontificating further.
Oh Bob, your white privilege is showing. I hope you don’t have kids, or are a care giver of any sort; your heart is evil and toxic. Do us all a favor and study up in systemic racism, you ignorant twat.