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I watched the inauguration in a corner of my screen, while simultaneously in a work meeting (with the camera off to hide my tears).
I take real joy in this moment of relief, but know that we all have years of work to do. Reversing the damage to democracy is only the start. 1/
I take real joy in this moment of relief, but know that we all have years of work to do. Reversing the damage to democracy is only the start. 1/
Inequality and injustice were entrenched long before 45 took office. His election was only possible because of the inequality and injustice built into our institutions and the outright enthusiasm for that injustice in much of our society. 2/
Most of that inequality has its roots in white supremacy. The electoral college and composition of the Senate are a constitutional compromise to white supremacists. The Senate filibuster is more recent, but was also created to protect white supremacy. 3/
Our economic inequality also has deep roots in white supremacy. Most obviously: addressing the damage from slavery would have taken generations if we were sincere about it, and we were not. Less obviously, our brand of capitalism also grows from white supremacy. 4/
In 1935, the New Deal established Aid to Families with Dependent Children (aka AFDC or Welfare). It was intended for white people, specifically the widows & children of Appalachian miners killed mining coal. Support for AFDC eroded as more Black citizens benefitted from it. 5/
AFDC was Title IV in the Social Security Act of 1935, which passed with 372-33 in the House and 77-6 in the Senate. Most of the Act concerned people who could not be expected to support themselves. Some temporarily and some permanently.
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AFDC had no time limit. It was understood that women with no job skills in areas of economic blight older than the Depression had no way out. Few of them would ever be able to support their family. The 1935 Act establishing AFDC passed with wide margins. 7/
But by 1980, Ronald Reagan was able to be elected on a platform whose pillars were 1) villifying people receiving AFDC, 2) lowering taxes on the wealthy, and amplifying fear of the Soviet Union. What had changed and how did it make a difference? 8/
As the popular idea of an AFDC recipient became a single Black woman, three new concerns emerged:
1) Are recipients morally deserving?
2) Are recipients gaming the system?
3) Are we encouraging laziness?
These basis of all three concerns is racist views of Black people. 9/
1) Are recipients morally deserving?
2) Are recipients gaming the system?
3) Are we encouraging laziness?
These basis of all three concerns is racist views of Black people. 9/
The same questions could have been asked of Appalachian widows, but they didn't become central until AFDC was seen as helping Black women. AFDC was just one example of many, but I picked it because a Democratic president signed the bill that finally killed it. 10/
Time and again, programs designed to create a social welfare foundered politically when Black people benefitted from them. Never more than when those programs facilitate local power. Let's talk about the brief rise and rapid suppression of the Community Action Program. 11/
But first some disclosures. My father worked in OEO under Sargent Shriver and played a major role in Community Action. I almost certainly have a bias, but also had access to oral history about the program from my late father. 12/
In 1964, Congress created the Office of Economic Opportunity and within that the Community Action Program. CAP put local residents on the boards of local Community Action Agencies, relying on and empowering local activists at a neighborhood level. 13/
There was chaos & waste as people new to being on boards learned the ropes on brand new boards. City government resented being bypassed. But these issues were expected (and argued in Congress) when the Act was passed. They were the pretext for hobbling CAP, but not the cause. 14/
The real problem was when CAP *worked* and CAAs were *effective*, especially where community activism meant the Black Power movement. Ineffective CAAs annoyed city politicians. Effective ones were a threat to their power. Ones that built Black Power were intolerable. 15/
In a series of progressive acts, Congress handed more and more control of CAA's to city government. Neighborhoods lost control of Community Action and grants became more political and less tailored to community needs. Only remnants remain. 16/
By "progressive acts", I of course mean regressive acts of Congress over time. All with the intent of keeping CAP from helping build Black Power in Black communities. My father reported that a CAP critic actually used the word "uppity" to describe Black CAA board members. 17/
Returning to the central point, if you pull in thread of almost any kind of recurring injustice or inequality in the U.S. you will find that one of the reasons it remains is to sustain white supremacy. end/
