Spent most of the afternoon updating my 30min keynote to be relative with the bad times, and realized something: (thread)

My book got a lot of attention because I am a white person talking about how difficult it is to get government assistance to make ends meet when you work a minimum wage job. But if you don’t work for more than 3 months and have kids over age 6, you get kicked off. (1)

Thing is, this rule has not changed. Many of the things that make “the system” impossibly hard to work with or even work for you instead of against you are still the same. (2)

People who have been out of work due to COVID for more than 90 days no longer qualify for SNAP for 3 years. Eviction moratoriums are being lifted at the same time unemployment insurance boosts are ending. (3)

States are already seeing “unprecedented” amounts of evictions through court systems. Thousands-maybe millions-will be experiencing some kind of homelessness in the next month. (4)

There has been very little media coverage of this. In all this talk about opening schools, it will be disadvantaged families who will be forced to put their children in classrooms because their parents absolutely have to work, even if they’re high risk. (5)

This pandemic has shown how detrimental it is for half of our population to lose two paychecks. It has widened the wealth gap enormously. Now, it is essentially going to wipe out low-income families. Our government’s response shows they just don’t care. (6)

We called low-income workers “essential” for what, a month? But we didn’t award them health benefits or sick days. We didn’t increase their wages. And now we’re cutting them off, leaving them to fend for themselves. Now we’re telling them to clean schools, airplanes, etc. (7)

Meanwhile the upper class pulls their kids out of school, creates pods, hires nannies, and reduces funding for public schools even more. Custodians and cafeteria workers won’t have proper supplies, gear, or pay. (8)

I’ve been writing about social and economic justice for five years and it shocks even me. All the hope I had at a movement toward empathy for low-wage workers and their families is fading. It’s appalling. They were essential because of the work, not because they are humans. (End)