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Great post put together by @DionRabouin in @axios on the racial wealth gap and why it matters. https://www.axios.com/racial-wealth-gap-ten-myths-d14fe524-fec6-41fc-9976-0be71bc23aec.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosam&stream=top
I wrote once about it & the idea of "baby bonds" put fwd by Sen Booker. It matters to me how things are paid for in Washington, and it matters to me that we avoid direct wealth redistribution and the use of force often implied by advocates' reparations. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/on-thanksgiving-families-share-more-than-just-food-and-memories
but there are ways to acknowledge the injustices we codified in law that helped to create the racial gap - and i think until we face it, speak to it and get inventive...we won't have real healing, reconciliation and a sense of justice.
When I was 20 I experienced an unplanned pregnancy and the crisis that follows when that happens. What I went through there with not only with welfare programs but also family support, taught me something about the idea of the "safety net" & it's were you see what "wealth" allows
which isn't to say my family was wealthy, we weren't and aren't. But we had savings between households. Enough for help with that situation for a few years as I scrambled to build a life for my new family - I had help. Generational "wealth" is a huge part of what allows for that
"When you’re living paycheck to paycheck, one unexpected mess can set you back for years. You get in a car wreck, you get sick, you have an unexpected child — these are real and relatable hurdles that for many, the family unit is there to help with in more ways than one."
The Great Society approach of eliminating poverty by fostering subsistence has been a failure. Period. But our society is not anti-welfare or safety net. Proven by the COVID-19 stimulus checks. We need to get smarter, make some compromises and reimagine this whole concept.
