• Moe Factz with Adam Curry for December 30th 2019, Episode number 19

• Block the Vote

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• Description
  • Adam and Moe discuss the history of the black vote in America. An episode that is required listening for any American voter

• ShowNotes
  • Malcolm X: The Ballot or the Bullet
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    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 21:33
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    • The Ballot or the Bullet by Malcolm XApril 3, 1964Cleveland, OhioMr. Moderator, Brother Lomax, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies: I just can't believe everyone in here is a friend, and I don't want to leave anybody out. The question tonight, as I understand it, is "The Negro Revolt, and Where Do We Go From Here?" or What Next?" In my little humble way of understanding it, it points toward either the ballot or the bullet.
    • Before we try and explain what is meant by the ballot or the bullet, I would like to clarify something concerning myself. I'm still a Muslim; my religion is still Islam. That's my personal belief. Just as Adam Clayton Powell is a Christian minister who heads the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York, but at the same time takes part in the political struggles to try and bring about rights to the black people in this country; and Dr. Martin Luther King is a Christian minister down in Atlanta, Georgia, who heads another organization fighting for the civil rights of black people in this country; and Reverend Galamison, I guess you've heard of him, is another Christian minister in New York who has been deeply involved in the school boycotts to eliminate segregated education; well, I myself am a minister, not a Christian minister, but a Muslim minister; and I believe in action on all fronts by whatever means necessary.
    • Although I'm still a Muslim, I'm not here tonight to discuss my religion. I'm not here to try and change your religion. I'm not here to argue or discuss anything that we differ about, because it's time for us to submerge our differences and realize that it is best for us to first see that we have the same problem, a common problem, a problem that will make you catch hell whether you're a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a Muslim, or a nationalist. Whether you're educated or illiterate, whether you live on the boulevard or in the alley, you're going to catch hell just like I am. We're all in the same boat and we all are going to catch the same hell from the same man. He just happens to be a white man. All of us have suffered here, in this country, political oppression at the hands of the white man, economic exploitation at the hands of the white man, and social degradation at the hands of the white man.
    • Now in speaking like this, it doesn't mean that we're anti-white, but it does mean we're anti-exploitation, we're anti-degradation, we're anti-oppression. And if the white man doesn't want us to be anti-him, let him stop oppressing and exploiting and degrading us. Whether we are Christians or Muslims or nationalists or agnostics or atheists, we must first learn to forget our differences. If we have differences, let us differ in the closet; when we come out in front, let us not have anything to argue about until we get finished arguing with the man. If the late President Kennedy could get together with Khrushchev and exchange some wheat, we certainly have more in common with each other than Kennedy and Khrushchev had with each other.
    • If we don't do something real soon, I think you'll have to agree that we're going to be forced either to use the ballot or the bullet. It's one or the other in 1964. It isn't that time is running out -- time has run out!
    • 1964 threatens to be the most explosive year America has ever witnessed. The most explosive year. Why? It's also a political year. It's the year when all of the white politicians will be back in the so-called Negro community jiving you and me for some votes. The year when all of the white political crooks will be right back in your and my community with their false promises, building up our hopes for a letdown, with their trickery and their treachery, with their false promises which they don't intend to keep. As they nourish these dissatisfactions, it can only lead to one thing, an explosion; and now we have the type of black man on the scene in America today -- I'm sorry, Brother Lomax -- who just doesn't intend to turn the other cheek any longer.
    • Don't let anybody tell you anything about the odds are against you. If they draft you, they send you to Korea and make you face 800 million Chinese. If you can be brave over there, you can be brave right here. These odds aren't as great as those odds. And if you fight here, you will at least know what you're fighting for.
    • I'm not a politician, not even a student of politics; in fact, I'm not a student of much of anything. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican, and I don't even consider myself an American. If you and I were Americans, there'd be no problem. Those Honkies that just got off the boat, they're already Americans; Polacks are already Americans; the Italian refugees are already Americans. Everything that came out of Europe, every blue-eyed thing, is already an American. And as long as you and I have been over here, we aren't Americans yet.
    • Well, I am one who doesn't believe in deluding myself. I'm not going to sit at your table and watch you eat, with nothing on my plate, and call myself a diner. Sitting at the table doesn't make you a diner, unless you eat some of what's on that plate. Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born here in America doesn't make you an American. Why, if birth made you American, you wouldn't need any legislation; you wouldn't need any amendments to the Constitution; you wouldn't be faced with civil-rights filibustering in Washington, D.C., right now. They don't have to pass civil-rights legislation to make a Polack an American.
    • No, I'm not an American. I'm one of the 22 million black people who are the victims of Americanism. One of the 22 million black people who are the victims of democracy, nothing but disguised hypocrisy. So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an American, or a patriot, or a flag-saluter, or a flag-waver -- no, not I. I'm speaking as a victim of this American system. And I see America through the eyes of the victim. I don't see any American dream; I see an American nightmare.
    • These 22 million victims are waking up. Their eyes are coming open. They're beginning to see what they used to only look at. They're becoming politically mature. They are realizing that there are new political trends from coast to coast. As they see these new political trends, it's possible for them to see that every time there's an election the races are so close that they have to have a recount. They had to recount in Massachusetts to see who was going to be governor, it was so close. It was the same way in Rhode Island, in Minnesota, and in many other parts of the country. And the same with Kennedy and Nixon when they ran for president. It was so close they had to count all over again. Well, what does this mean? It means that when white people are evenly divided, and black people have a bloc of votes of their own, it is left up to them to determine who's going to sit in the White House and who's going to be in the dog house.
    • lt. was the black man's vote that put the present administration in Washington, D.C. Your vote, your dumb vote, your ignorant vote, your wasted vote put in an administration in Washington, D.C., that has seen fit to pass every kind of legislation imaginable, saving you until last, then filibustering on top of that. And your and my leaders have the audacity to run around clapping their hands and talk about how much progress we're making. And what a good president we have. If he wasn't good in Texas, he sure can't be good in Washington, D.C. Because Texas is a lynch state. It is in the same breath as Mississippi, no different; only they lynch you in Texas with a Texas accent and lynch you in Mississippi with a Mississippi accent. And these Negro leaders have the audacity to go and have some coffee in the White House with a Texan, a Southern cracker -- that's all he is -- and then come out and tell you and me that he's going to be better for us because, since he's from the South, he knows how to deal with the Southerners. What kind of logic is that? Let Eastland be president, he's from the South too. He should be better able to deal with them than Johnson.
    • In this present administration they have in the House of Representatives 257 Democrats to only 177 Republicans. They control two-thirds of the House vote. Why can't they pass something that will help you and me? In the Senate, there are 67 senators who are of the Democratic Party. Only 33 of them are Republicans. Why, the Democrats have got the government sewed up, and you're the one who sewed it up for them. And what have they given you for it? Four years in office, and just now getting around to some civil-rights legislation. Just now, after everything else is gone, out of the way, they're going to sit down now and play with you all summer long -- the same old giant con game that they call filibuster. All those are in cahoots together. Don't you ever think they're not in cahoots together, for the man that is heading the civil-rights filibuster is a man from Georgia named Richard Russell. When Johnson became president, the first man he asked for when he got back to Washington, D.C., was "Dicky" -- that's how tight they are. That's his boy, that's his pal, that's his buddy. But they're playing that old con game. One of them makes believe he's for you, and he's got it fixed where the other one is so tight against you, he never has to keep his promise.
    • So it's time in 1964 to wake up. And when you see them coming up with that kind of conspiracy, let them know your eyes are open. And let them know you -- something else that's wide open too. It's got to be the ballot or the bullet. The ballot or the bullet. If you're afraid to use an expression like that, you should get on out of the country; you should get back in the cotton patch; you should get back in the alley. They get all the Negro vote, and after they get it, the Negro gets nothing in return. All they did when they got to Washington was give a few big Negroes big jobs. Those big Negroes didn't need big jobs, they already had jobs. That's camouflage, that's trickery, that's treachery, window-dressing. I'm not trying to knock out the Democrats for the Republicans. We'll get to them in a minute. But it is true; you put the Democrats first and the Democrats put you last.
    • Look at it the way it is. What alibis do they use, since they control Congress and the Senate? What alibi do they use when you and I ask, "Well, when are you going to keep your promise?" They blame the Dixiecrats. What is a Dixiecrat? A Democrat. A Dixiecrat is nothing but a Democrat in disguise. The titular head of the Democrats is also the head of the Dixiecrats, because the Dixiecrats are a part of the Democratic Party. The Democrats have never kicked the Dixiecrats out of the party. The Dixiecrats bolted themselves once, but the Democrats didn't put them out. Imagine, these lowdown Southern segregationists put the Northern Democrats down. But the Northern Democrats have never put the Dixiecrats down. No, look at that thing the way it is. They have got a con game going on, a political con game, and you and I are in the middle. It's time for you and me to wake up and start looking at it like it is, and trying to understand it like it is; and then we can deal with it like it is.
    • The Dixiecrats in Washington, D.C., control the key committees that run the government. The only reason the Dixiecrats control these committees is because they have seniority. The only reason they have seniority is because they come from states where Negroes can't vote. This is not even a government that's based on democracy. lt. is not a government that is made up of representatives of the people. Half of the people in the South can't even vote. Eastland is not even supposed to be in Washington. Half of the senators and congressmen who occupy these key positions in Washington, D.C., are there illegally, are there unconstitutionally.
    • I was in Washington, D.C., a week ago Thursday, when they were debating whether or not they should let the bill come onto the floor. And in the back of the room where the Senate meets, there's a huge map of the United States, and on that map it shows the location of Negroes throughout the country. And it shows that the Southern section of the country, the states that are most heavily concentrated with Negroes, are the ones that have senators and congressmen standing up filibustering and doing all other kinds of trickery to keep the Negro from being able to vote. This is pitiful. But it's not pitiful for us any longer; it's actually pitiful for the white man, because soon now, as the Negro awakens a little more and sees the vise that he's in, sees the bag that he's in, sees the real game that he's in, then the Negro's going to develop a new tactic.
    • These senators and congressmen actually violate the constitutional amendments that guarantee the people of that particular state or county the right to vote. And the Constitution itself has within it the machinery to expel any representative from a state where the voting rights of the people are violated. You don't even need new legislation. Any person in Congress right now, who is there from a state or a district where the voting rights of the people are violated, that particular person should be expelled from Congress. And when you expel him, you've removed one of the obstacles in the path of any real meaningful legislation in this country. In fact, when you expel them, you don't need new legislation, because they will be replaced by black representatives from counties and districts where the black man is in the majority, not in the minority.
    • If the black man in these Southern states had his full voting rights, the key Dixiecrats in Washington, D. C., which means the key Democrats in Washington, D.C., would lose their seats. The Democratic Party itself would lose its power. It would cease to be powerful as a party. When you see the amount of power that would be lost by the Democratic Party if it were to lose the Dixiecrat wing, or branch, or element, you can see where it's against the interests of the Democrats to give voting rights to Negroes in states where the Democrats have been in complete power and authority ever since the Civil War. You just can't belong to that Party without analyzing it.
    • I say again, I'm not anti-Democrat, I'm not anti-Republican, I'm not anti-anything. I'm just questioning their sincerity, and some of the strategy that they've been using on our people by promising them promises that they don't intend to keep. When you keep the Democrats in power, you're keeping the Dixiecrats in power. I doubt that my good Brother Lomax will deny that. A vote for a Democrat is a vote for a Dixiecrat. That's why, in 1964, it's time now for you and me to become more politically mature and realize what the ballot is for; what we're supposed to get when we cast a ballot; and that if we don't cast a ballot, it's going to end up in a situation where we're going to have to cast a bullet. It's either a ballot or a bullet.
    • In the North, they do it a different way. They have a system that's known as gerrymandering, whatever that means. It means when Negroes become too heavily concentrated in a certain area, and begin to gain too much political power, the white man comes along and changes the district lines. You may say, "Why do you keep saying white man?" Because it's the white man who does it. I haven't ever seen any Negro changing any lines. They don't let him get near the line. It's the white man who does this. And usually, it's the white man who grins at you the most, and pats you on the back, and is supposed to be your friend. He may be friendly, but he's not your friend.
    • So, what I'm trying to impress upon you, in essence, is this: You and I in America are faced not with a segregationist conspiracy, we're faced with a government conspiracy. Everyone who's filibustering is a senator -- that's the government. Everyone who's finagling in Washington, D.C., is a congressman -- that's the government. You don't have anybody putting blocks in your path but people who are a part of the government. The same government that you go abroad to fight for and die for is the government that is in a conspiracy to deprive you of your voting rights, deprive you of your economic opportunities, deprive you of decent housing, deprive you of decent education. You don't need to go to the employer alone, it is the government itself, the government of America, that is responsible for the oppression and exploitation and degradation of black people in this country. And you should drop it in their lap. This government has failed the Negro. This so-called democracy has failed the Negro. And all these white liberals have definitely failed the Negro.
    • So, where do we go from here? First, we need some friends. We need some new allies. The entire civil-rights struggle needs a new interpretation, a broader interpretation. We need to look at this civil-rights thing from another angle -- from the inside as well as from the outside. To those of us whose philosophy is black nationalism, the only way you can get involved in the civil-rights struggle is give it a new interpretation. That old interpretation excluded us. It kept us out. So, we're giving a new interpretation to the civil-rights struggle, an interpretation that will enable us to come into it, take part in it. And these handkerchief-heads who have been dillydallying and pussy footing and compromising -- we don't intend to let them pussyfoot and dillydally and compromise any longer.
    • How can you thank a man for giving you what's already yours? How then can you thank him for giving you only part of what's already yours? You haven't even made progress, if what's being given to you, you should have had already. That's not progress. And I love my Brother Lomax, the way he pointed out we're right back where we were in 1954. We're not even as far up as we were in 1954. We're behind where we were in 1954. There's more segregation now than there was in 1954. There's more racial animosity, more racial hatred, more racial violence today in 1964, than there was in 1954. Where is the progress?
    • And now you're facing a situation where the young Negro's coming up. They don't want to hear that "turn the-other-cheek" stuff, no. In Jacksonville, those were teenagers, they were throwing Molotov cocktails. Negroes have never done that before. But it shows you there's a new deal coming in. There's new thinking coming in. There's new strategy coming in. It'll be Molotov cocktails this month, hand grenades next month, and something else next month. It'll be ballots, or it'll be bullets. It'll be liberty, or it will be death. The only difference about this kind of death -- it'll be reciprocal. You know what is meant by "reciprocal"? That's one of Brother Lomax's words. I stole it from him. I don't usually deal with those big words because I don't usually deal with big people. I deal with small people. I find you can get a whole lot of small people and whip hell out of a whole lot of big people. They haven't got anything to lose, and they've got every thing to gain. And they'll let you know in a minute: "It takes two to tango; when I go, you go."
    • The black nationalists, those whose philosophy is black nationalism, in bringing about this new interpretation of the entire meaning of civil rights, look upon it as meaning, as Brother Lomax has pointed out, equality of opportunity. Well, we're justified in seeking civil rights, if it means equality of opportunity, because all we're doing there is trying to collect for our investment. Our mothers and fathers invested sweat and blood. Three hundred and ten years we worked in this country without a dime in return -- I mean without a dime in return. You let the white man walk around here talking about how rich this country is, but you never stop to think how it got rich so quick. It got rich because you made it rich.
    • You take the people who are in this audience right now. They're poor. We're all poor as individuals. Our weekly salary individually amounts to hardly anything. But if you take the salary of everyone in here collectively, it'll fill up a whole lot of baskets. It's a lot of wealth. If you can collect the wages of just these people right here for a year, you'll be rich -- richer than rich. When you look at it like that, think how rich Uncle Sam had to become, not with this handful, but millions of black people. Your and my mother and father, who didn't work an eight-hour shift, but worked from "can't see" in the morning until "can't see" at night, and worked for nothing, making the white man rich, making Uncle Sam rich. This is our investment. This is our contribution, our blood.
    • Not only did we give of our free labor, we gave of our blood. Every time he had a call to arms, we were the first ones in uniform. We died on every battlefield the white man had. We have made a greater sacrifice than anybody who's standing up in America today. We have made a greater contribution and have collected less. Civil rights, for those of us whose philosophy is black nationalism, means: "Give it to us now. Don't wait for next year. Give it to us yesterday, and that's not fast enough."
    • I might stop right here to point out one thing. Whenever you're going after something that belongs to you, anyone who's depriving you of the right to have it is a criminal. Understand that. Whenever you are going after something that is yours, you are within your legal rights to lay claim to it. And anyone who puts forth any effort to deprive you of that which is yours, is breaking the law, is a criminal. And this was pointed out by the Supreme Court decision. It outlawed segregation.
    • Which means segregation is against the law. Which means a segregationist is breaking the law. A segregationist is a criminal. You can't label him as anything other than that. And when you demonstrate against segregation, the law is on your side. The Supreme Court is on your side.
    • Now, who is it that opposes you in carrying out the law? The police department itself. With police dogs and clubs. Whenever you demonstrate against segregation, whether it is segregated education, segregated housing, or anything else, the law is on your side, and anyone who stands in the way is not the law any longer. They are breaking the law; they are not representatives of the law. Any time you demonstrate against segregation and a man has the audacity to put a police dog on you, kill that dog, kill him, I'm telling you, kill that dog. I say it, if they put me in jail tomorrow, kill that dog. Then you'll put a stop to it. Now, if these white people in here don't want to see that kind of action, get down and tell the mayor to tell the police department to pull the dogs in. That's all you have to do. If you don't do it, someone else will.
    • If you don't take this kind of stand, your little children will grow up and look at you and think "shame." If you don't take an uncompromising stand, I don't mean go out and get violent; but at the same time you should never be nonviolent unless you run into some nonviolence. I'm nonviolent with those who are nonviolent with me. But when you drop that violence on me, then you've made me go insane, and I'm not responsible for what I do. And that's the way every Negro should get. Any time you know you're within the law, within your legal rights, within your moral rights, in accord with justice, then die for what you believe in. But don't die alone. Let your dying be reciprocal. This is what is meant by equality. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
    • When we begin to get in this area, we need new friends, we need new allies. We need to expand the civil-rights struggle to a higher level -- to the level of human rights. Whenever you are in a civil-rights struggle, whether you know it or not, you are confining yourself to the jurisdiction of Uncle Sam. No one from the outside world can speak out in your behalf as long as your struggle is a civil-rights struggle. Civil rights comes within the domestic affairs of this country. All of our African brothers and our Asian brothers and our Latin-American brothers cannot open their mouths and interfere in the domestic affairs of the United States. And as long as it's civil rights, this comes under the jurisdiction of Uncle Sam.
    • But the United Nations has what's known as the charter of human rights; it has a committee that deals in human rights. You may wonder why all of the atrocities that have been committed in Africa and in Hungary and in Asia, and in Latin America are brought before the UN, and the Negro problem is never brought before the UN. This is part of the conspiracy. This old, tricky blue eyed liberal who is supposed to be your and my friend, supposed to be in our corner, supposed to be subsidizing our struggle, and supposed to be acting in the capacity of an adviser, never tells you anything about human rights. They keep you wrapped up in civil rights. And you spend so much time barking up the civil-rights tree, you don't even know there's a human-rights tree on the same floor.
    • When you expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights, you can then take the case of the black man in this country before the nations in the UN. You can take it before the General Assembly. You can take Uncle Sam before a world court. But the only level you can do it on is the level of human rights. Civil rights keeps you under his restrictions, under his jurisdiction. Civil rights keeps you in his pocket. Civil rights means you're asking Uncle Sam to treat you right. Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth. And any time any one violates your human rights, you can take them to the world court.
    • Uncle Sam's hands are dripping with blood, dripping with the blood of the black man in this country. He's the earth's number-one hypocrite. He has the audacity -- yes, he has -- imagine him posing as the leader of the free world. The free world! And you over here singing "We Shall Overcome." Expand the civil-rights struggle to the level of human rights. Take it into the United Nations, where our African brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our Asian brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our Latin-American brothers can throw their weight on our side, and where 800 million Chinamen are sitting there waiting to throw their weight on our side.
    • Let the world know how bloody his hands are. Let the world know the hypocrisy that's practiced over here. Let it be the ballot or the bullet. Let him know that it must be the ballot or the bullet.
    • When you take your case to Washington, D.C., you're taking it to the criminal who's responsible; it's like running from the wolf to the fox. They're all in cahoots together. They all work political chicanery and make you look like a chump before the eyes of the world. Here you are walking around in America, getting ready to be drafted and sent abroad, like a tin soldier, and when you get over there, people ask you what are you fighting for, and you have to stick your tongue in your cheek. No, take Uncle Sam to court, take him before the world.
    • By ballot I only mean freedom. Don't you know -- I disagree with Lomax on this issue -- that the ballot is more important than the dollar? Can I prove it? Yes. Look in the UN. There are poor nations in the UN; yet those poor nations can get together with their voting power and keep the rich nations from making a move. They have one nation -- one vote, everyone has an equal vote. And when those brothers from Asia, and Africa and the darker parts of this earth get together, their voting power is sufficient to hold Sam in check. Or Russia in check. Or some other section of the earth in check. So, the ballot is most important.
    • Right now, in this country, if you and I, 22 million African-Americans -- that's what we are -- Africans who are in America. You're nothing but Africans. Nothing but Africans. In fact, you'd get farther calling yourself African instead of Negro. Africans don't catch hell. You're the only one catching hell. They don't have to pass civil-rights bills for Africans. An African can go anywhere he wants right now. All you've got to do is tie your head up. That's right, go anywhere you want. Just stop being a Negro. Change your name to Hoogagagooba. That'll show you how silly the white man is. You're dealing with a silly man. A friend of mine who's very dark put a turban on his head and went into a restaurant in Atlanta before they called themselves desegregated. He went into a white restaurant, he sat down, they served him, and he said, "What would happen if a Negro came in here? And there he's sitting, black as night, but because he had his head wrapped up the waitress looked back at him and says, "Why, there wouldn't no nigger dare come in here."
    • So, you're dealing with a man whose bias and prejudice are making him lose his mind, his intelligence, every day. He's frightened. He looks around and sees what's taking place on this earth, and he sees that the pendulum of time is swinging in your direction. The dark people are waking up. They're losing their fear of the white man. No place where he's fighting right now is he winning. Everywhere he's fighting, he's fighting someone your and my complexion. And they're beating him. He can't win any more. He's won his last battle. He failed to win the Korean War. He couldn't win it. He had to sign a truce. That's a loss.
    • Any time Uncle Sam, with all his machinery for warfare, is held to a draw by some rice eaters, he's lost the battle. He had to sign a truce. America's not supposed to sign a truce. She's supposed to be bad. But she's not bad any more. She's bad as long as she can use her hydrogen bomb, but she can't use hers for fear Russia might use hers. Russia can't use hers, for fear that Sam might use his. So, both of them are weapon-less. They can't use the weapon because each's weapon nullifies the other's. So the only place where action can take place is on the ground. And the white man can't win another war fighting on the ground. Those days are over The black man knows it, the brown man knows it, the red man knows it, and the yellow man knows it. So they engage him in guerrilla warfare. That's not his style. You've got to have heart to be a guerrilla warrior, and he hasn't got any heart. I'm telling you now.
    • I just want to give you a little briefing on guerrilla warfare because, before you know it, before you know it. It takes heart to be a guerrilla warrior because you're on your own. In conventional warfare you have tanks and a whole lot of other people with you to back you up -- planes over your head and all that kind of stuff. But a guerrilla is on his own. All you have is a rifle, some sneakers and a bowl of rice, and that's all you need -- and a lot of heart. The Japanese on some of those islands in the Pacific, when the American soldiers landed, one Japanese sometimes could hold the whole army off. He'd just wait until the sun went down, and when the sun went down they were all equal. He would take his little blade and slip from bush to bush, and from American to American. The white soldiers couldn't cope with that. Whenever you see a white soldier that fought in the Pacific, he has the shakes, he has a nervous condition, because they scared him to death.
    • The same thing happened to the French up in French Indochina. People who just a few years previously were rice farmers got together and ran the heavily-mechanized French army out of Indochina. You don't need it -- modern warfare today won't work. This is the day of the guerrilla. They did the same thing in Algeria. Algerians, who were nothing but Bedouins, took a rine and sneaked off to the hills, and de Gaulle and all of his highfalutin' war machinery couldn't defeat those guerrillas. Nowhere on this earth does the white man win in a guerrilla warfare. It's not his speed. Just as guerrilla warfare is prevailing in Asia and in parts of Africa and in parts of Latin America, you've got to be mighty naive, or you've got to play the black man cheap, if you don't think some day he's going to wake up and find that it's got to be the ballot or the bullet.
    • l would like to say, in closing, a few things concerning the Muslim Mosque, Inc., which we established recently in New York City. It's true we're Muslims and our religion is Islam, but we don't mix our religion with our politics and our economics and our social and civil activities -- not any more We keep our religion in our mosque. After our religious services are over, then as Muslims we become involved in political action, economic action and social and civic action. We become involved with anybody, any where, any time and in any manner that's designed to eliminate the evils, the political, economic and social evils that are afflicting the people of our community.
    • The political philosophy of black nationalism means that the black man should control the politics and the politicians in his own community; no more. The black man in the black community has to be re-educated into the science of politics so he will know what politics is supposed to bring him in return. Don't be throwing out any ballots. A ballot is like a bullet. You don't throw your ballots until you see a target, and if that target is not within your reach, keep your ballot in your pocket.
    • The political philosophy of black nationalism is being taught in the Christian church. It's being taught in the NAACP. It's being taught in CORE meetings. It's being taught in SNCC Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee meetings. It's being taught in Muslim meetings. It's being taught where nothing but atheists and agnostics come together. It's being taught everywhere. Black people are fed up with the dillydallying, pussyfooting, compromising approach that we've been using toward getting our freedom. We want freedom now, but we're not going to get it saying "We Shall Overcome." We've got to fight until we overcome.
    • The economic philosophy of black nationalism is pure and simple. It only means that we should control the economy of our community. Why should white people be running all the stores in our community? Why should white people be running the banks of our community? Why should the economy of our community be in the hands of the white man? Why? If a black man can't move his store into a white community, you tell me why a white man should move his store into a black community. The philosophy of black nationalism involves a re-education program in the black community in regards to economics. Our people have to be made to see that any time you take your dollar out of your community and spend it in a community where you don't live, the community where you live will get poorer and poorer, and the community where you spend your money will get richer and richer.
    • Then you wonder why where you live is always a ghetto or a slum area. And where you and I are concerned, not only do we lose it when we spend it out of the community, but the white man has got all our stores in the community tied up; so that though we spend it in the community, at sundown the man who runs the store takes it over across town somewhere. He's got us in a vise.So the economic philosophy of black nationalism means in every church, in every civic organization, in every fraternal order, it's time now for our people to be come conscious of the importance of controlling the economy of our community. If we own the stores, if we operate the businesses, if we try and establish some industry in our own community, then we're developing to the position where we are creating employment for our own kind. Once you gain control of the economy of your own community, then you don't have to picket and boycott and beg some cracker downtown for a job in his business.
    • The social philosophy of black nationalism only means that we have to get together and remove the evils, the vices, alcoholism, drug addiction, and other evils that are destroying the moral fiber of our community. We our selves have to lift the level of our community, the standard of our community to a higher level, make our own society beautiful so that we will be satisfied in our own social circles and won't be running around here trying to knock our way into a social circle where we're not wanted. So I say, in spreading a gospel such as black nationalism, it is not designed to make the black man re-evaluate the white man -- you know him already -- but to make the black man re-evaluate himself. Don't change the white man's mind -- you can't change his mind, and that whole thing about appealing to the moral conscience of America -- America's conscience is bankrupt. She lost all conscience a long time ago. Uncle Sam has no conscience.
    • They don't know what morals are. They don't try and eliminate an evil because it's evil, or because it's illegal, or because it's immoral; they eliminate it only when it threatens their existence. So you're wasting your time appealing to the moral conscience of a bankrupt man like Uncle Sam. If he had a conscience, he'd straighten this thing out with no more pressure being put upon him. So it is not necessary to change the white man's mind. We have to change our own mind. You can't change his mind about us. We've got to change our own minds about each other. We have to see each other with new eyes. We have to see each other as brothers and sisters. We have to come together with warmth so we can develop unity and harmony that's necessary to get this problem solved ourselves. How can we do this? How can we avoid jealousy? How can we avoid the suspicion and the divisions that exist in the community? I'll tell you how.
    • I have watched how Billy Graham comes into a city, spreading what he calls the gospel of Christ, which is only white nationalism. That's what he is. Billy Graham is a white nationalist; I'm a black nationalist. But since it's the natural tendency for leaders to be jealous and look upon a powerful figure like Graham with suspicion and envy, how is it possible for him to come into a city and get all the cooperation of the church leaders? Don't think because they're church leaders that they don't have weaknesses that make them envious and jealous -- no, everybody's got it. It's not an accident that when they want to choose a cardinal, as Pope I over there in Rome, they get in a closet so you can't hear them cussing and fighting and carrying on.
    • Billy Graham comes in preaching the gospel of Christ. He evangelizes the gospel. He stirs everybody up, but he never tries to start a church. If he came in trying to start a church, all the churches would be against him. So, he just comes in talking about Christ and tells everybody who gets Christ to go to any church where Christ is; and in this way the church cooperates with him. So we're going to take a page from his book.
    • Our gospel is black nationalism. We're not trying to threaten the existence of any organization, but we're spreading the gospel of black nationalism. Anywhere there's a church that is also preaching and practicing the gospel of black nationalism, join that church. If the NAACP is preaching and practicing the gospel of black nationalism, join the NAACP. If CORE is spreading and practicing the gospel of black nationalism, join CORE. Join any organization that has a gospel that's for the uplift of the black man. And when you get into it and see them pussyfooting or compromising, pull out of it because that's not black nationalism. We'll find another one.
    • And in this manner, the organizations will increase in number and in quantity and in quality, and by August, it is then our intention to have a black nationalist convention which will consist of delegates from all over the country who are interested in the political, economic and social philosophy of black nationalism. After these delegates convene, we will hold a seminar; we will hold discussions; we will listen to everyone. We want to hear new ideas and new solutions and new answers. And at that time, if we see fit then to form a black nationalist party, we'll form a black nationalist party. If it's necessary to form a black nationalist army, we'll form a black nationalist army. It'll be the ballot or the bullet. It'll be liberty or it'll be death.
    • It's time for you and me to stop sitting in this country, letting some cracker senators, Northern crackers and Southern crackers, sit there in Washington, D.C., and come to a conclusion in their mind that you and I are supposed to have civil rights. There's no white man going to tell me anything about my rights. Brothers and sisters, always remember, if it doesn't take senators and congressmen and presidential proclamations to give freedom to the white man, it is not necessary for legislation or proclamation or Supreme Court decisions to give freedom to the black man. You let that white man know, if this is a country of freedom, let it be a country of freedom; and if it's not a country of freedom, change it.
    • We will work with anybody, anywhere, at any time, who is genuinely interested in tackling the problem head-on, nonviolently as long as the enemy is nonviolent, but violent when the enemy gets violent. We'll work with you on the voter-registration drive, we'll work with you on rent strikes, we'll work with you on school boycotts; I don't believe in any kind of integration; I'm not even worried about it, because I know you're not going to get it anyway; you're not going to get it because you're afraid to die; you've got to be ready to die if you try and force yourself on the white man, because he'll get just as violent as those crackers in Mississippi, right here in Cleveland. But we will still work with you on the school boycotts be cause we're against a segregated school system. A segregated school system produces children who, when they graduate, graduate with crippled minds. But this does not mean that a school is segregated because it's all black. A segregated school means a school that is controlled by people who have no real interest in it whatsoever.
    • Let me explain what I mean. A segregated district or community is a community in which people live, but outsiders control the politics and the economy of that community. They never refer to the white section as a segregated community. It's the all-Negro section that's a segregated community. Why? The white man controls his own school, his own bank, his own economy, his own politics, his own everything, his own community; but he also controls yours. When you're under someone else's control, you're segregated. They'll always give you the lowest or the worst that there is to offer, but it doesn't mean you're segregated just because you have your own. You've got to control your own. Just like the white man has control of his, you need to control yours.
    • You know the best way to get rid of segregation? The white man is more afraid of separation than he is of integration. Segregation means that he puts you away from him, but not far enough for you to be out of his jurisdiction; separation means you're gone. And the white man will integrate faster than he'll let you separate. So we will work with you against the segregated school system because it's criminal, because it is absolutely destructive, in every way imaginable, to the minds of the children who have to be exposed to that type of crippling education.
    • Last but not least, I must say this concerning the great controversy over rifles and shotguns. The only thing that I've ever said is that in areas where the government has proven itself either unwilling or unable to defend the lives and the property of Negroes, it's time for Negroes to defend themselves. Article number two of the constitutional amendments provides you and me the right to own a rifle or a shotgun. It is constitutionally legal to own a shotgun or a rifle. This doesn't mean you're going to get a rifle and form battalions and go out looking for white folks, although you'd be within your rights -- I mean, you'd be justified; but that would be illegal and we don't do anything illegal. If the white man doesn't want the black man buying rifles and shotguns, then let the government do its job.
    • That's all. And don't let the white man come to you and ask you what you think about what Malcolm says -- why, you old Uncle Tom. He would never ask you if he thought you were going to say, "Amen!" No, he is making a Tom out of you." So, this doesn't mean forming rifle clubs and going out looking for people, but it is time, in 1964, if you are a man, to let that man know.If he's not going to do his job in running the government and providing you and me with the protection that our taxes are supposed to be for, since he spends all those billions for his defense budget, he certainly can't begrudge you and me spending $12 or $15 for a single-shot, or double-action. I hope you understand. Don't go out shooting people, but any time -- brothers and sisters, and especially the men in this audience; some of you wearing Congressional Medals of Honor, with shoulders this wide, chests this big, muscles that big -- any time you and I sit around and read where they bomb a church and murder in cold blood, not some grownups, but four little girls while they were praying to the same God the white man taught them to pray to, and you and I see the government go down and can't find who did it.
    • Why, this man -- he can find Eichmann hiding down in Argentina somewhere. Let two or three American soldiers, who are minding somebody else's business way over in South Vietnam, get killed, and he'll send battleships, sticking his nose in their business. He wanted to send troops down to Cuba and make them have what he calls free elections -- this old cracker who doesn't have free elections in his own country.
    • No, if you never see me another time in your life, if I die in the morning, I'll die saying one thing: the ballot or the bullet, the ballot or the bullet.
    • If a Negro in 1964 has to sit around and wait for some cracker senator to filibuster when it comes to the rights of black people, why, you and I should hang our heads in shame. You talk about a march on Washington in 1963, you haven't seen anything. There's some more going down in '64.
    • And this time they're not going like they went last year. They're not going singing ''We Shall Overcome." They're not going with white friends. They're not going with placards already painted for them. They're not going with round-trip tickets. They're going with one way tickets. And if they don't want that non-nonviolent army going down there, tell them to bring the filibuster to a halt.
    • The black nationalists aren't going to wait. Lyndon B. Johnson is the head of the Democratic Party. If he's for civil rights, let him go into the Senate next week and declare himself. Let him go in there right now and declare himself. Let him go in there and denounce the Southern branch of his party. Let him go in there right now and take a moral stand -- right now, not later. Tell him, don't wait until election time. If he waits too long, brothers and sisters, he will be responsible for letting a condition develop in this country which will create a climate that will bring seeds up out of the ground with vegetation on the end of them looking like something these people never dreamed of. In 1964, it's the ballot or the bullet.
    • Thank you.
    • [ Back to Historic Speeches ]
  • Carol M. Swain - Wikipedia
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    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 21:22
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    • Carol Miller Swain (born March 7, 1954) is an American conservative television analyst and former professor of political science and law at Vanderbilt University. She is the author and editor of several books. Her scholarly work has been cited by two associate justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. Her interests include race relations, immigration, representation, evangelical politics, and the United States Constitution.
    • Early life [ edit ] Carol Miller Swain was born on March 7, 1954, in Bedford, Virginia, one of twelve children.[2][3][4][5] Her father dropped out of school in the third grade and her mother dropped out in high school.[2] Her stepfather used to physically abuse her mother, Dorothy Henderson, who is disabled due to infantile paralysis.[6] Swain grew up in poverty, living in a shack without running water, and sharing two beds with her eleven siblings.[2] The second of twelve children, she did not have shoes and thus missed school whenever it snowed.[2] She did not finish high school, dropping out in ninth grade.[2][6] She moved to Roanoke with her family in the 1960s and appealed to a judge to be transferred to a foster home, which was denied. Swain instead lived with her grandmother in a trailer park.[2]
    • After she divorced in 1975, Swain earned a GED and worked as a cashier at McDonald's, a door-to-door salesperson, and an assistant in a retirement facility.[2] She later earned an associate degree from Virginia Western Community College.[4][5] She went on to earn a magna cum laude B.A. in criminal justice from Roanoke College and a master's degree in political science from Virginia Tech.[4][5] While an undergraduate at Roanoke College, she organized a scholarship fund for black students that by 2002 had an endowment of $350,000.[2] She finished a Ph.D. in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.[2][4][5] In 2000, she earned a Master of Legal Studies from Yale Law School.[4][5]
    • Professional career [ edit ] Swain received tenure as an associate professor of politics and public policy at Princeton University.[4][5][7] From 1999 to 2017, she taught political science and law at Vanderbilt University.[4][7] She retired from her post at Vanderbilt in 2017.[8]
    • Her first academic book, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress, was published by Harvard University Press in 1993.[9][10][11][12][13][14] The book was cited by Anthony Kennedy and Sandra Day O'Connor, two Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States.[15][16] It was the recipient of the D.B. Hardeman Prize as well as the American Political Science Association's Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award.[17]
    • In 1996, she edited a collection of essays entitled Race Versus Class: The New Affirmative Action Debate.[4]
    • Her third book, published in 2002, was The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25] which one reviewer described as "a gallant attempt to locate the middle ground of American values and social discourse toward resolving contemporary racial problems, however, complex social issues remain unresolved and out of focus".[26] In the foreword, she says, "[I] have reserved for myself the right to explore hunches and draw upon personal intuitions as I interpret and evaluate data", a methodology criticized by political scientist Marc Q. Sawyer, who comments, "While I laud this break with convention, frequently these hunches either lead to faulty conclusions or foreclose the opportunity for consideration of alternative explanations in this work. One can disagree with Swain's normative vision, but when that vision triumphs over social scientific evidence and fails to live up to its claims for social justice, it is legitimate to critique that vision itself". Sawyer contends Swain ignores important African-American institutions and the variety in thought among African-American scholars, that she misses and misinterprets statistical information, and that, in the end, "despite claims of a normative focus, Swain is largely on the side of the white nationalists", apologizing for "racist beliefs and practices".[27]
    • In 2003, she edited Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism with Princeton University Professor Russell K. Nieli.[28] It was reviewed in Rhetoric and Public Affairs[29] and The Journal of Southern History.[30] The book contains telephone interviews with ten people active in the white nationalist movement; the interviews were edited by the interviewees, and Stephanie Shanks-Meile, reviewing the book for Contemporary Sociology, criticized the methodology of the book ("the primary data analysis is weak") and the lack of interviews with rank-and-file members: "there is still no real substitution for field research, making Swain and Nieli's ten telephone interviews with 'leaders' too superficial to base an entire study on white nationalism".[26]
    • In 2011, she released Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise, published by Thomas Nelson.[3] She explained she wrote the book as a response to "the ungodly direction" of the United States.[31]
    • She served as an advisor to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission[32] and she was a member of the National Council on the Humanities.[33] She served on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Roanoke College.[34] She is a foundation member of the Nu of Virginia Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.[4]
    • She is a Founding Director of the Veritas Institute.[35] She was a Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University from 2004 to 2005.[35][35][36] She was also a Visiting Copenhaver Scholar at Roanoke College.[5] She has participated in conferences and radio programs organized by the Family Research Council (FRC).[37][38] She also did a book signing event for Be the People at the FRC in 2011.[39] In 2013, she spoke at a Tea Party rally in Lebanon, Tennessee alongside Republican State Representative Mark Pody.[40] On November 15, 2013, she also spoke about immigration reform on a panel entitled "Doing Good to the Stranger and the Citizen: Evangelicals Discuss Immigration Reform" at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C.[41]
    • In November 2015, Vanderbilt University students started a petition on Change.org, asking administrators to terminate her from teaching and require her to attend diversity training sessions. The students accused Swain of becoming "synonymous with bigotry, intolerance, and unprofessionalism".[42][43] The petition garnered over 1,000 signatures within days.[42] She responded by calling those students "sad and pathetic, in the sense that they're college students and they should be open to hearing more than one viewpoint."[42][43] The petition underwent revisions and changed to asking administrators to only suspend Swain and require all professors to attend diversity training.[44] Meanwhile, Nicholas S. Zeppos, the chancellor of Vanderbilt University, issued a statement saying that while Swain's views are not the same as the university's, the university is committed to free speech and academic freedom.[45] Additionally, a pro-Swain petition was started by her supporters, who suggested the student petition was "reminiscent of China's Cultural Revolution, when student Red Guards made false and ridiculous accusations against their professors".[46]
    • In January 2017, Swain announced that she would retire from Vanderbilt in August, and stated, "I will not miss what American universities have allowed themselves to become".[8] After a series of racial protests erupted in the summer of 2017,[47] an article in The Weekly Standard dubbed Swain "the Cassandra of Vanderbilt".[48]
    • Between October 2012 and July 2014, she was the host of Be the People, a weekly television talk which used paid programming time to air on Sundays on WSMV-TV and WZTV in the Nashville area.[49][50][51]
    • Political career [ edit ] Following Nashville Mayor Megan Barry's resignation for embezzlement on March 6, 2018, a special election was triggered.[52] The Davidson County election commission selected May 24 for the election after a legal challenge over the initial August 2 ballot date.[53] Swain declared her candidacy for Mayor of Nashville on April 2, citing a need for low taxes and common-sense regulations.[54] The race featured 13 candidates, including acting mayor David Briley, state representative Harold Love, and councilwoman Erica Gilmore. Swain placed second in the election, receiving 23 percent of the vote, behind Briley, who received 54 percent.[55] On March 18, 2019, Swain announced she was again running for Nashville mayor, challenging incumbent mayor Briley in that year's election.[56] The election results on August 1, 2019 had Swain in third place with 21% of the vote (which required her to drop out), behind Councilman John Cooper (36%) and incumbent Mayor David Briley (26%), setting them up for a special run-off election.
    • Swain supported Donald Trump's 2016 campaign for president.[57]
    • Views on race [ edit ] In 2002, Swain argued against reparations for American descendants of African slaves during an event at Delaware State University, a historically black university.[58] However, in 2005, she wrote an op ed in The Washington Post calling for the George W. Bush to offer a formal apology to American citizens of African descent for the institution of slavery.[59] She also wrote a policy document about it for the Heartland Institute.[60] When the apology happened in June 2009, during the presidency of Barack Obama, she called it "meaningless."[61] She expressed disappointment that it did not happen under President George W. Bush, when the Republicans were in power, arguing that "It would have shed that racist scab on the party."[61]
    • In October 2009, the SPLC mentioned Swain in a critique of A Conversation About Race, a documentary directed by Craig Bodeker that contended that racism was not an issue in America. The SPLC stated that the film had been well-received among white supremacist organizations, and the film's director had granted interviews to white supremacist publications to promote the film. The SPLC noted that Swain was one of the few mainstream figures who had endorsed the film.[62] Swain stated that the content of the film could be effectively used in social science classes to encourage debate.[63] Swain called the SPLC article a smear, and contended that the SPLC was retaliating against her because she had previously criticized the organization in a blog entry on the Huffington Post.[64]
    • Swain called the re-election of President Barack Obama in 2012, "a very scary situation".[3] In April 2012, she argued that civil rights leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton had used the shooting of Trayvon Martin for political gains in order to increase voter registration for the Democratic Party.[65] She argued that black-on-white crimes are underreported in the media,[66] and criticized Martin's mother for failing to address the issues of black-on-black crime rates, unemployment, and abortion in black communities.[67]
    • In 2013, when she was asked if Jesus was black or white, she responded that the issue was "irrelevant."[68] She added, "Whether He's white, black, Hispanic, whatever you want to call Him, what's important is that people find meaning in His life."[68]
    • In the wake of the 2015 Charleston church shooting, Swain suggested the removal of the Confederate battle flag from the South Carolina State Capitol might exacerbate tensions between blacks and whites,[69] adding that "It was easy to focus on the flag, as opposed to the issues that have divided blacks and whites historically."[70]
    • In July 2016, Swain criticized Black Lives Matter, suggesting it was "a Marxist organization" and "a very destructive force in America."[71][72] She reiterated that it was "pure Marxism" and concluded that it "needs to go".[71][72]
    • In August 2016, Swain appeared in Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, directed by Dinesh D'Souza.[73]
    • Views on Islam [ edit ] On January 16, 2015, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo shooting, Swain[74] wrote an op-ed criticizing Islam in The Tennessean.[75][76] She argued:
    • Islam is not like other religions in the United States[;] it poses an absolute danger to us and our children unless it is monitored. ... If America is to be safe, it must ... institute serious monitoring of Islamic organizations.
    • '--'‰
    • Carol M. Swain, The Tennessean (January 16, 2015)[75]Following her comments some Vanderbilt students held a protest,[77] accusing Swain of engaging in "hate speech"[78] and said more protests would be held unless the University implemented a policy to "promise its students protection from being attacked by faculty members."[76][79][80]
    • On January 19, Judson Phillips, another conservative activist, wrote an op ed in The Washington Times in defense of Swain's remarks.[81][82] That same day, a piece by Vanderbilt professor David J. Wasserstein, titled "Thoughtful views on Islam needed, not simplicity," was published in the Tennessean in response to Swain's piece.[83]
    • On January 23, 2015, The Tennessean published another opinion piece, titled "Anti-Islam op-ed distorts reality, could harm people," by Randy Horick countering Swain's views.[84]
    • In February 2015, Swain filed a police complaint after she received a sexually harassing package from an address in Portland, Oregon in retaliation for her op-ed.[85] She added she no longer felt safe on the campus of Vanderbilt University.[85]
    • Personal life [ edit ] Swain married at the age of sixteen and had two sons and one daughter. Her daughter died of sudden infant death syndrome. Upon being divorced five years later, Swain attempted to commit suicide by swallowing pills.[2]
    • During this period she was a Jehovah's Witness.[2] According to the Nashville Scene, "As a young girl, Swain became a devout Jehovah's Witness. At the time, many in that church believed that the world would end in 1975. Swain was among them. ..."[6] In 1998 Swain was baptized into the Pentecostal faith after hearing an "internal voice" when she thought she was dying at a hospital.[86][87] In 2017 Swain served as a Citizen's Committee member for the 43rd Annual Tennessee Prayer Breakfast[88] and as a board member for the Nashville Youth for Christ.[89] She is a Southern Baptist.[90]
    • Publications [ edit ] Books [ edit ] Listed chronologically by released date.
    • Carol M. Swain (1993). Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress . Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-07616-7. Carol M. Swain (1996). Race Versus Class: The New Affirmative Action Debate. University Press of America. ISBN 978-0-7618-0413-0. Carol M. Swain (2002). The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-54558-7. Carol M. Swain; Russ Nieli, eds. (2003). Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-01693-3. Carol M. Swain, ed. (2007). Debating Immigration . Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-69866-5. Carol M. Swain, ed. (2018). Debating Immigration (Second ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-45467-4. Carol M. Swain (2011). Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise. Thomas Nelson. ISBN 978-0-8499-4828-2. Steven Feazel; Carol M. Swain (2016). Abduction: How Liberalism Steals Our Children's Hearts and Minds. Christian Faith Publishing. ISBN 978-1-63525-146-3. Carol M. Swain; Steven Feazel (2016). Who's Stealing Our Kids?: Revealing the Hidden Agenda to Secularize Our Children. Frontline. ISBN 978-1-62998-748-4. Essays [ edit ] "Double Standard, Double Bind: African-American Leadership After the Thomas Debacle" in Race-ing Justice, En-Gendering Power: Essays on Anita Hill, Clarence Thomas, and the Construction of Social Reality (1992). Pantheon Books. Edited by Toni Morrison. ISBN 0-679-74145-3.References [ edit ] ^ https://www.theepochtimes.com/i-saw-the-light-and-went-to-republican-from-democrat_2704793.html ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Up From Poverty: The Remarkable Career of Professor Carol Swain". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (37): 66''67. Autumn 2002. doi:10.2307/3134294. JSTOR 3134294. ^ a b c Kathryn Jean Lopez, Being Faithful to a Founding: A college professor talks good sense, National Review, November 28, 2011 ^ a b c d e f g h i Vanderbilt University: Author presentation: Carol M. Swain ^ a b c d e f g "Visiting Scholar's Program Offerings Announced". Roanoke College. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014 . Retrieved February 28, 2015 . ^ a b c Tobia, P.J. (July 5, 2008). "A Woman Apart: How a Nashville academic, born poor and black, has become a conservative mouthpiece 'speaking truth to a world that doesn't want to hear it ' ". Nashville Scene. ^ a b "Be the People: About Carol Swain". Archived from the original on January 16, 2014 . Retrieved January 15, 2014 . ^ a b Flaherty, Colleen (January 25, 2017). "Carole Swain to retire from Vanderbilt". Inside Higher Ed . Retrieved January 25, 2017 . ^ Bullock, Charles S. III (Fall 1993). "Reviewed Work: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress by Carol M. Swain". The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 77 (3): 656''658. JSTOR 40582858. ^ Thompson, J. Phillip III (Winter 1993). "Reviewed Work: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress by Carol M. Swain". Political Science Quarterly. 108 (4): 743''744. doi:10.2307/2152414. JSTOR 2152414. ^ McClain, Paula D. (November 1994). "Reviewed Work: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress. by Carol M. Swain". The Journal of Politics. 56 (4): 1145''1148. doi:10.2307/2132080. JSTOR 2132080. ^ Overby, L. Marvin (June 1995). "Book review: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress by Carol M. Swain". Public Choice. 83 (3''4): 386''390. doi:10.1007/BF01047753. JSTOR 30026994. ^ Valelly, Richard M. (Spring 1995). "Reviewed Work: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress by Carol M. Swain". Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 14 (2): 346''350. doi:10.2307/3325163. JSTOR 3325163. ^ Pinderhughes, Dianne M. (December 1994). "Reviewed Works: Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress by Carol M. Swain; From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections by Katherine Tate". American Political Science Review. 88 (4): 1008''1010. doi:10.2307/2082752. JSTOR 2082752. ^ "Justice Kennedy cites Swain '' Johnson v. DeGrandy". ^ "O'Connor cites Swain '' Georgia v. Ashcroft". ^ "Woodrow Wilson Award Winners '' American Political Science Association" (PDF) . ^ Blee, Kathleen M. (April 2003). "Review of Books: The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration Carol M. Swain". The American Historical Review. 108 (2): 457''458. doi:10.1086/ahr/108.2.547. JSTOR 10.1086/533322. ^ Cashmore, Ellis (September 2003). "The Impure Strikes Back: The Making of English National Identity by Krishan Kumar; Race and Racism in Britain by John Solomos; Stuart Hall by Chris Rojek; The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". British Journal of Sociology. 54 (3): 309''311. JSTOR 3698408. ^ Meilaender, Peter C. (December 2003). "Review: Confronting Taboos: Reviewed Work: The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". The Review of Politics. 65 (2): 309''311. doi:10.1017/s0034670500050117. JSTOR 1408823. ^ Sawyer, Mark Q. (December 2003). "Reviewed Work: The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". Perspectives on Politics. 1 (4): 792''793. doi:10.1017/S1537592703210586. JSTOR 3687970. ^ Weisenburger, Steven (February 2004). "Reviewed Work: The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". The Journal of Southern History. 70 (1): 200''202. doi:10.2307/27648387. JSTOR 27648387. ^ Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L. (March 2004). "Reviewed Works: The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain; Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America by Carol M. Swain, Russ Nieli". Contemporary Sociology. 33 (2): 157''159. JSTOR 3593668. ^ Barton, Michael (Spring 2004). "Reviewed Work: THE NEW WHITE NATIONALISM IN AMERICA: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". American Studies. 45 (1): 176''177. JSTOR 40643661. ^ Spence, Lester K. (September 2004). "Reviewed work(s): The New White Nationalism In America. By Carol M. Swain". The Journal of Politics. 66 (4): 1306''1308. doi:10.1017/S0022381600004230. JSTOR 10.1017/S0022381600004230. ^ a b Shanks-Meile, Stephanie L. (2004). "Reviewed Work(s): The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain; Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America by Carol M. Swain and Russ Nieli". Contemporary Sociology. 33 (2): 157''159. ^ Sawyer, Mark Q. (2003). "Reviewed Work(s): The New White Nationalism in America: Its Challenge to Integration by Carol M. Swain". Perspectives on Politics. 1 (4): 792''793. JSTOR 3687970. ^ Swain, Carol M.; Nieli, Russ (March 24, 2003). Google Books '' New White Nationalism. Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism. ISBN 9780521816731. ^ Beasley, Vanessa B. (August 2004). "Reviewed Work: Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America by Carol M. Swain, Russ Nieli". Rhetoric and Public Affairs. 7 (1): 103''105. doi:10.1353/rap.2004.0019. JSTOR 41939897. ^ Powell, Lawrence N. (August 2004). "Reviewed Work: Contemporary Voices of White Nationalism in America by Carol M. Swain, Russ Nieli". The Journal of Southern History. 70 (3): 725''726. doi:10.2307/27648550. JSTOR 27648550. ^ Billy Hallowell, Author Seeks to Change America's 'Ungodly Direction', The Blaze, August 30, 2011 ^ "Tennessee Advisors '' US Civil Rights Commission (see page 5)" (PDF) . ^ "Members '' National Council on the Humanities". Archived from the original on June 15, 2011 . Retrieved June 18, 2011 . ^ "Roanoke College Trustees". Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. ^ a b c James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions: Events (Fall 2004) ^ James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions: Visiting Fellows 2004-05\ ^ Index of Belonging and Rejection Release and News Conference, Family Research Council, December 15, 2010 ^ Tony Perkins, Richard Land, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, Carol Swain, Todd Starnes, Family Research Council, February 25, 2014 ^ Be the People: A Call to Reclaim America's Faith and Promise, Family Research Council, June 9, 2011 ^ Swain Speaks to Wilson County Tea Party Archived April 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Lebanon Democrat, May 1, 2013 ^ Doing Good to the Stranger and the Citizen: Evangelicals Discuss Immigration Reform Archived March 1, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Heritage Foundation, November 15, 2013 ^ a b c Caloway, Nick (November 9, 2015). "Student petition asks Vanderbilt to suspend conservative professor". WKRN-TV. Nashville, Tennessee . Retrieved November 11, 2015 . ^ a b Chasmar, Jessica (November 12, 2015). "Black conservative professor slams 'sad, pathetic' Vanderbilt students demanding her ouster". The Washington Times . Retrieved December 3, 2015 . ^ "GREENBERG: The Carol Swain petition silences dissenting voices". Vanderbilt Hustler. November 11, 2015. Archived from the original on November 14, 2015 . Retrieved December 8, 2015 . ^ "Being Muslim on Campus". The Atlantic. November 2015 . Retrieved December 8, 2015 . ^ McDermott, Gerald (November 16, 2015). "Help defend Carol Swain". Patheos . Retrieved December 4, 2015 . ^ Heim, Joe (August 13, 2017). "One dead as car strikes crowds amid protests of white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville; two police die in helicopter crash". The Washington Post . Retrieved September 14, 2017 . ^ Lloyd, Alice B. (May 5, 2017). "The Cassandra of Vanderbilt". The Weekly Standard. ^ Weathersby, Ronald W. (January 12, 2013). "Carol Swain's New Talk Show Gaining Momentum in Middle Tennessee". The Tennessee Tribune. Archived from the original on October 29, 2014. ^ "About". www.carolmswain.net . Retrieved December 20, 2015 . ^ Chris Chisum, Popular Show Expands to New Networks, Christian News Wire, February 28, 2014 ^ Fausset, Richard; Smith, Mitch (March 6, 2018). "Megan Barry, Nashville Mayor, Pleads Guilty to Theft and Agrees to Resign". The New York Times. ^ Garrison, Joey (April 10, 2018). "Tennessee Supreme Court moves up Nashville mayoral election to May". Tennessean. ^ Garrison, Joey (April 3, 2018). "Carol Swain, former Vanderbilt professor, conservative commentator, to run for Nashville mayor". Nashville Tennessean. ^ Garrison, Joey (May 25, 2018) [May 24, 2018]. "Nashville Mayor David Briley wins special mayoral race, avoiding runoff". Nashville Tennessean. ^ Rau, Nate (March 18, 2019). "Carol Swain officially announces bid for Nashville mayor". Nashville Tennessean. ^ Cahn, Emily (August 17, 2016). "Donald Trump Wants to Win Over Black Voters. Here's How He Already Blew His Chance". Mic . Retrieved August 22, 2016 . 'I was pleasantly surprised at how well the speech addressed concerns that I believe most African-Americans have, and I believe that it was delivered with sincerity and that it was a message that I wish more people could hear,' said Carol Swain, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an African-American Trump supporter. ^ Gregory Kane, Bold remark on reparations: 'Get over it', The Baltimore Sun, November 27, 2002 ^ Carol M. Swain, An Apology for Slavery, The Washington Post, July 16, 2005 ^ Carol M. Swain, Apologizing for Slavery, Heartland Institute, April 1, 2005 ^ a b Krissah Thompson, Senate Unanimously Approves Resolution Apologizing for Slavery, The Washington Post, June 19, 2009 ^ Sonia Scherr, A Slick DVD Defends Racism, Southern Poverty Law Center, October 8, 2009 ^ "Black Professor at Vanderbilt University Denies She Is an "Apologist for White Supremacists " ". The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education (66): 30. Winter 2009. JSTOR 20722160. ^ Swain, Carol (September 11, 2017). "What It's Like to Be Smeared by the Southern Poverty Law Center". www.wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved November 5, 2017 . ^ Napp Nazworth, Expert: Black Leaders Fueling Racial Division for Political Gain, The Christian Post, April 10, 2012 ^ Obama Gives Highly Personal Take On Trayvon Martin Death, Urges Soul-Searching, PBS, July 19, 2013 ^ Gregory Kane, Why Carol Swain demands honesty about Trayvon Martin, The Washington Examiner, August 5, 2013 ^ a b Jessie Washington, [1], The Times of Israel, December 24, 2013 ^ "Confederate flag down in South Carolina but only first step in solving problems". Fox News. July 12, 2015 . Retrieved December 7, 2015 . ^ Holland, Jesse J. (July 12, 2015). "Confederate flag down but what happens now". aol.com . Retrieved December 7, 2015 . ^ a b Diaz, Daniella (July 9, 2016). "African-American professor Carol Swain slams Black Lives Matter". CNN . Retrieved August 20, 2016 . ^ a b Tamburin, Adam (July 12, 2016). "Carol Swain blasts Black Lives Matter; Vanderbilt responds". The Tennessean . Retrieved August 20, 2016 . ^ Adams, Sam (July 15, 2016). " ' Hillary's America' Review: Dinesh D'Souza Indulges in More Confirmation Bias". The Wrap . Retrieved August 20, 2016 . ^ "Beliefs". CarolMSwain.net. Archived from the original on December 11, 2015 . Retrieved February 26, 2015 . ^ a b Carol M. Swain, Charlie Hebdo attacks prove critics were right about Islam, The Tennessean, January 15, 2015 ^ a b Is Carol Swain Charlie? or Hateful?, Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2015 ^ Ridley, JR. "Former 'SNL' actress defends prof accused of 'hate speech' against Muslims". CollegeFix.com . Retrieved July 24, 2015 . ^ "Uproar over Vanderbilt professor's anti-Muslim column @insidehighered". insidehighered.com . Retrieved February 28, 2015 . ^ Students to protest Carol Swain's op-ed on Islam Archived February 21, 2015, at the Wayback Machine by Aaditi Naik, The Vanderbilt Hustler, January 16, 2015. ^ Between brats and bigots Archived January 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine by Angelica Lasala and Aaditi Naik, The Vanderbilt Hustler, January 21, 2015. ^ Judson Phillips, Vanderbilt's Carol Swain, the fight to silence liberty, The Washington Times, January 19, 2015 ^ Vanderbilt Professor Under Attack for Criticizing Islam by Mark Tapson, Frontpagemag, January 23, 2015. ^ Wasserstein, David J. (January 19, 2015). "Thoughtful views on Islam needed, not simplicity". The Tennessean. ^ Randy Horick (January 23, 2015). "Anti-Islam op-ed distorts reality, could harm people". The Tennessean . Retrieved February 28, 2015 . ^ a b Tom Wilemon, Carol Swain to police: Islam column brings harassment, The Tennessean, February 15, 2015 ^ "A Snippet of Professor Carol M. Swain's Christian Journey". carolmswain.net. December 21, 2011. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016 . Retrieved December 3, 2015 . The hospital in Princeton happened to have a black Pentecostal chaplain, which was unusual given the affluence and racial makeup of the surrounding community. The chaplain and a cleaning lady witnessed to me in the hospital and arranged for me to be baptized. ^ "Author makes case for God, faith to heal nation". The Town Talk. Alexandria, Louisiana. July 31, 2011 . Retrieved December 7, 2015 . She also draws on her Pentecostal beliefs about spiritual covenants, which are binding agreements between God and human beings. ^ 2017 Tennessee Prayer Breakfast ^ Nashville YFC Board of Directors ^ "Swain: Southern Baptists must counter aggressive secularism". Capstone Report. April 4, 2017 . Retrieved December 18, 2019 . Carol M. Swain is a Southern Baptist and a professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. External links [ edit ] Vanderbilt UniversityCarol Swain's WebsiteBe The People TV '' Swain's BlogAppearances on C-SPAN
  • Jason Johnson (professor) - Wikipedia
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    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 20:59
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    • American academic
    • Jason Johnson is an American professor of political science and communications, political commentator, and writer. He is the author of the book Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell.
    • Life [ edit ] Johnson is currently a tenured professor in the School of Global Journalism & Communication at Morgan State University (MSU) located in Baltimore, Maryland, where he teaches courses focused on political and international journalism.[1] Johnson formerly was a professor of political science and communications at Hiram College in Hiram, Ohio, where he taught American politics, comparative politics, campaign management and communications.[2] In October 2010, Johnson was named the Politics Editor for The Source magazine.[3]
    • Johnson is the author of Political Consultants and Campaigns: One Day to Sell.
    • Johnson served as campaign manager on legislative races in Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland. In the field of international and comparative politics, Johnson worked on the 2001 London mayoral campaign, and as an international election monitor in Mexico and South Africa.
    • Johnson earned his B.A. from the University of Virginia and his Ph.D from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
    • Johnson has been quoted as an expert on politics by such newspapers as the Wall Street Journal,[4] The Hill,[5] the Cincinnati Enquirer,[6] Akron Beacon Journal,[7] and The Plain Dealer.[8] He has also appeared in the online edition of Essence magazine and Black Enterprise Magazine.[9]
    • Johnson is a frequent television commentator locally, nationally and internationally. He is a regular commentator on MSNBC, Al Jazeera English[10] and has appeared on Fox News Channel's The O'Reilly Factor.[11] In Ohio, Johnson is a regular political commentator on WKYC[12] and WOIO[13] in Cleveland, WKBN-TV[14] and WYTV[15] in Youngstown.
    • Johnson makes regular radio appearances on WHYY-FM in Philadelphia,[16] WCPN in Cleveland,[17] the Basheer Jones Show on WERE AM 1490 in Cleveland, and CKNW in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has appeared on National Public Radio's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.[18]
    • Johnson is a regular columnist for the Chicago Defender,[19] the Michigan Chronicle,[20] the New Pittsburgh Courier,[21] and the Memphis Tri-State Defender.[22] Johnson is Senior Politics Editor of Politic365.com and has also been a regular contributor to TheLoop21.com.[23]
    • References [ edit ] ^ Watson, Jamal Eric. "Morgan State Bolsters Journalism School with Jason Johnson". diverseeducation.com . Retrieved 16 August 2016 . ^ "Biography, Jason Johnson". Hiram College. ^ "Getting Brand New". The Source. 2010-10-27. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. ^ Maher, Kris (2011-09-26). "Firefighters Battle Labor-Curbs Bill". Wall Street Journal. ^ Swanson, Ian (2010-01-19). "Republican victory could affect more than healthcare legislation". The Hill. ^ Wilkinson, Howard (2008-07-13). "Will Ohio, Ky. Vote for a black man?". Cincinnati Enquirer. ^ Warsmith, Stephanie (2007-12-15). "Brunner seeks election overhaul". Akron Beacon Journal. ^ Kroll, John (2008-03-08). "Race mattered more in Ohio primary than in any other state". The Plain Dealer. ^ "Biography, Jason Johnson". Hiram College. ^ "President Obama Marks 100 Days in Office". Al Jazeera English. 2009-04-29. ^ "Inner City Life". The O'Reilly Factor. 2000-07-24. ^ "Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings". WKYC-TV. 2009-07-15. ^ "Dr. Jason Johnson analysis from Democratic Convention". WOIO, 19 Action News. 2008-08-27. ^ "Jason Johnson analyzes the 2004 Presidential Election". WKBN CBS-27. 2004-11-09. ^ "New Anti-Obama Ad Airing in Valley". WYTV. 2008-08-22. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. ^ "Radio Times: National political roundup: 2009 & 2010". WHYY-FM. 2009-12-31. ^ "Tubbs Jones Was A Rising Star in Democratic Politics". WCPN. 2008-08-21. Archived from the original on 2008-10-29. ^ "Black GOP Lawmakers Face Tricky Relations with Democrats". Morning Edition, National Public Radio. 2011-01-05. ^ Johnson, Jason (2009-09-09). "MySpace and Facebook start to look like America". Chicago Defender. Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. ^ "Dr. Jason Johnson's Theories". Michigan Chronicle. ^ Johnson, Jason (2009-12-23). "Saying goodbye to the 'Lost Decade ' ". New Pittsburgh Courier. ^ "Jason Johnson: Articles by this Author". Memphis Tri-State Defender. Archived from the original on 2009-12-09. ^ "Obama's Place in the 2012 Election 'Bracket' Is the Real March Madness". TheLoop21.com. Archived from the original on 2011-03-11. External links [ edit ] Official website
  • The Douglass Plan
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    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 20:49
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    • The decisions we make in the next four years will determine America's path for the next forty. And a great deal of the progress we make''on everything from increasing economic freedom to confronting climate disruption''will depend on whether we tackle racial inequality in our lifetime. For all our country's forward movement, Black people in America are still disproportionately excluded from systems of social protection, economic uplift, and representative democracy while facing shorter lifespansXu, Jiaquan, M.D., Sherry L. Murphy, B.S., Kenneth D. Kochanek, M.A., Brigham Bastian, B.S., and Elizabeth Arias, Ph. D. ''Deaths: Final Data for 2016.'' National Vital Statistics Reports 67, no. 5. July 26, 2018., lower educational attainmentHansen, Michael, Elizabeth Mann, Diana Quintero, and Jon Valant. ''Have We Made Progress on Achievement Gaps? Looking at Evidence from the New NAEP Results.'' Brookings. April 17, 2018. ,and dramatic overcriminalization and incarceration compared to their white counterparts.Sawyer, Wendy, and Peter Wagner. ''Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019.'' Prison Policy Initiative. March 19, 2019.
    • This is why Mayor Pete Buttigieg is proposing The Douglass Plan, a comprehensive and intentional dismantling of racist structures and systems combined with an equally intentional and affirmative investment of unprecedented scale in the freedom and self-determination of Black Americans. This includes reforming broken criminal justice and health systems, strengthening access to credit and injecting capital into the Black community, and taking bold steps toward fulfilling long-broken promises of true equity.
    • Inspired by American hero Frederick Douglass and comparable in scale to the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II, the Douglass Plan dismantles old systems and structures that inhibit prosperity and builds new ones that will unlock the collective potential of Black America.
    • It remains morally and economically incumbent upon America to fix what our policies consciously and deliberately wrought over centuries. Additionally, in a democratic capitalist society, the direct investment in communities traditionally precluded from asset ownership and economic opportunity will broadly lift the economy, providing benefits to all Americans, regardless of race. Economic uplift and wealth creation must combine with legal and social change to create a more equitable America.
    • In committing to a comprehensive plan that focuses on Black Americans, the goal of the Douglass Plan is not to ignore the specific histories and experiences that have impacted other communities of color in the United States. Mayor Pete understands that racism is not just a black and white issue, and that we also need to address the unique challenges facing other communities''from Native communities confronting poverty and dispossession to the Islamophobia impacting Middle Eastern, Arab, and South Asian communities, to dehumanizing immigration policies that stereotype the Latinx community and overlook their vital contributions to our economy. America's racist structures were built to justify and perpetuate slavery, and by achieving greater equity for Black Americans we lay the groundwork for achieving greater equity for other people of color as well.
    • When Black America experiences economic justice and opportunity, we all benefit. When our democracy works for Black America, it is a better democracy for all of us. When we place Black women at the heart of the struggle for reproductive justice, the lives of all women are made healthier and freer. When young Black men have equal employment opportunities, all of America benefits from their economic contributions. The Douglass Plan is a specific plan for Black America''but it also establishes a deep and solid foundation for racial and economic justice for all communities of color and for all Americans.
    • The Douglass Plan reflects a fundamental belief about racial justice in America: not only that it is right to remedy centuries of dehumanization and discrimination in and of itself, but also that when Black Americans live in freedom and justice, all Americans have greater opportunities to live in freedom and justice.
    • Pete has already committed to creating a commission to propose reparations policies to Congress. The Douglass Plan, which is a complement to any potential reparations proposals, aims to provide the scale and scope necessary for true nationwide restorative justice. Its policies touch every facet of American life, and like the values animating Pete's campaign, reflect the principles of Freedom , Security, and Democracy .
    • After the accumulated weight of slavery and Jim Crow, America cannot simply replace centuries of racism with non-racist policy; it must intentionally mitigate the gaps that those centuries of policy created.
    • The thought of only being a creature of the present and past was troubling. I longed for a future too, with hope in it. The desire to be free, awakened my determination to act, to think, and to speak. '' Frederick Douglass You aren't free if your zip code, name, and race determine your quality of life and health outcomes or employment opportunities. You aren't free if you're disproportionately policed, surveilled, and locked up. You aren't free if the schools you attend function as a pipeline to prison. Freedom means freedom from the government treating anyone differently on the basis of race, and it also means the freedom to seek out the same opportunities as all Americans, from a fair and just starting point.
    • To secure these freedoms, we will implement a health policy package that emphasizes anti-racism and is supported by a corresponding investment in education and sustainable infrastructure to enable it all. We will act to end the hyper-criminalization and mass incarceration of Black Americans and we will undo the prison-industrial complex.
    • Health Equity and JusticeTrue freedom also means the freedom to live the healthiest life possible in order to pursue your dreams, and the freedom from having your quality of life or lifespan determined by the color of your skin, gender, zip code, or job. Yet Black Americans are burdened by daunting social conditions that impact health and receive lower quality health care due to institutional racism and implicit bias, and thus disproportionately suffer worse health outcomes. In practice, this means that Black Americans are more likely to be unstably housed or homeless, to live in unhealthier housing, to be unemployed or to receive lower wages for the same work, and to be limited to accessing lower quality food systems''all of which negatively impact health and disease. It means that a Black mother's emotional pain after giving birth isn't taken seriously by her doctors, so her postpartum depression goes undiagnosed. Or that a Black man who visits an emergency room is undertreated with pain medication, or that his chest pain is less aggressively monitored and investigated.
    • In America, Black mothers are 3-4 times more likely to die during or after childbirth and Black infants are more than twice as likely to die as white infants.''Pregnancy-Related Deaths.'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. |''Infant Mortality.'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black Americans also face significantly higher rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, and a host of other conditions.''African American Health.'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Moreover, ending health disparities can lower medical expenditures by trillions of dollars. From 2003-2006, eradicating disparities would have cut medical care expenditures by roughly $230 billion and other health-related costs, including premature death, by over $1 trillion.LaVeist, T. A., D. Gaskin, and P. Richard. ''Estimating the Economic Burden of Racial Health Inequalities in the United States.'' International Journal of Health Services 41, no. 2 (2011): 231-38.
    • A Buttigieg Administration will center the lives of Black Americans in our nation's health care and public health systems by launching an interagency National Health Equity Strategy. This strategy will prioritize anti-racism and is undergirded by the belief that quality health outcomes should be the norm for every American, regardless of race, place, income, or even access to health care.
    • To achieve this:
    • We will designate and fund Health Equity Zones to address communities' most pressing health disparities, especially in communities with histories of redlining and economic and social marginalization. These Health Equity Zones will support the identification, development, implementation, and monitoring of plans tailored to address local health inequities. Building from early models like Accountable Communities for Health ''Accountable Communities for Health.'' Prevention Institute.; ''Accountable Health Communities Model.'' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services., these Health Equity Zones will create multi-sector coalitions focused on health equity and closing health disparities, and reflect the fundamental economic, social, and political determinants of health in a community. Continuing funding to a Health Equity Zone will be conditional on the presence of concrete, executable plans to address high-priority health disparities in the local community, with a specific emphasis on racial and demographic health disparities.We will address the underrepresentation of Black Americans in the health workforce and train our current health workforce to combat bias''especially racial bias''when treating patients, while transforming our institutions to ensure that they are prepared to engage with communities in culturally, linguistically, and historically appropriate ways. We will develop and codify the frameworks, systems, data collection and analysis, and protocols for this work at the highest levels of government, and ensure that our health providers and systems can readily access these tools and support.We will revitalize the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Health and Human Services to ensure that frameworks are in place to address health inequities, promote equal access, and prohibit discrimination; that agencies explicitly consider racial impact in their regulatory decisions and rule-making; and that legal recourse and enforcement is readily available to people and communities in order to protect these basic human rights.America needs to create an educational system that trains and empowers the next generation of Black scientists, artists, writers, college professors, lawyers, tech entrepreneurs, doctors, software engineers, police officers, teachers, and so much more. Yet today, too many children of color are being denied educational justice. From a lack of adequate resources, to critical teacher shortages, to discriminatory disciplinary policies that reduce instruction time and feed the school-to-prison pipeline, students of color are far too often not afforded the same educational opportunities as their white peers. And when the intellectual lives of students of color are diminished, America loses.
    • This opportunity gap causes over $500 billion in lost economic growth annuallyAuguste, Byron G., Bryan Hancock, and Martha Laboissiere. ''The Economic Cost of the US Education Gap.'' McKinsey & Company. June 2009. and is one of the most significant contributors to the perpetuation of the Black-white wealth gap. Most people's wealth is built through well-paid workSmith, Matthew, Danny Yagan, Owen M. Zidar, and Eric Zwick. ''Capitalists in the Twenty-First Century.'' Quarterly Journal of Economics, forthcoming 2019., but many Black students have been denied equal access to excellent education and in-demand job skills. The Schools of the Future Plan is our commitment to providing the resources needed to ensure every American child gains access to the skills they need to meet the economy of the future.
    • We will invest in an equitable public education system by massively increasing federal resources for students at Title I schools. Schools that serve students who come to school hungry, who lack access to high-quality health care, who experience homelessness, and who know firsthand the indignity of racial discrimination need more resources''not less''if they are to experience opportunity equal to their peers. A Buttigieg Administration will dramatically increase Title I funding to support higher teacher pay and supplemental services for lower-income students above and beyond state and local funding resources.We will issue new regulations to diversify the teaching profession. By 2024, a minority of students in our public schools will identify as white, but 82% of teachers still identify as white.''The State of Racial Diversity in the Educator Workforce.'' U.S. Department of Education. Studies show that same-race teachers can have an enormous impact: Black students with at least one Black teacher in grades 3-5 are much more likely to graduate high school and attend college.Seth Gershenson, Cassandra M. D. Hart, Constance A. Lindsay, and Nicholas W. Papageorge. ''The Long-Run Impacts of Same-Race Teachers'' NBER Working Paper 25254. That is why we will require new transparency around teacher hiring procedures: states will disaggregate their applicant and hiring by race and document teacher diversity initiatives as part of their Every Student Succeeds Act school improvement plans. We will also set new guidelines around the use of Title II funds to invest in recruiting, training, and supporting the next generation of school leaders of color.We will invest in high-quality state and local educational programs. We will increase federal investments and incentivize state and local investments in middle school, high school, and college programs to increase readiness and competitiveness for Black women and men in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and fields of growing employment opportunities, especially health professions, software, finance, and alternative energy.While higher education remains a clear pathway for much of the middle class, for too many''particularly for Black students''those paths are littered with hurdles. Today, only one in three Black young adults has an associate degree or higher, compared with over half of white young adults.''Percentage of Persons 25 to 29 Years Old with Selected Levels of Educational Attainment, by Race/ethnicity and Sex.'' Digest of Education Statistics. Accessed June 23, 2019. Black students are disproportionately likely to enroll in expensive and low-value for-profit colleges. And given historic wealth disparities, they are disproportionately likely to face challenges in affording college, leaving them at greater risk of dropping out of college with debt and no degree.
    • We will invest in college students' futures by making public college tuition free for lower-income students and ensuring the lowest-income students can cover living costs without taking on student debt through increased investments in the Pell Grant program. We will ensure all student loan borrowers have affordable and safe ways to manage their debt. We will cancel the debts of borrowers in low-quality, overwhelmingly for-profit programs beginning with those that failed federal ''gainful employment'' rules designed to ensure students receive an adequate return on their investments. The federal government should never have allowed students to enroll in these programs and we will hold those colleges accountable for their predatory actions.We will increase dedicated resources by $50 billion for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs), which have played an extraordinary role in educating Black students, developing remarkable leaders, and helping build a burgeoning Black middle class. HBCUs were largely formed as a response to patterns of exclusion for Black Americans in our country's educational system. A portion of those funds will be set aside for a fund to support, test, and scale promising practices to improve college completion at these institutions. Significantly increasing the resources available to HBCUs and MSIs to help level the playing field between them and other world-class institutions in the United States is about a commitment to restorative justice.Promotion of the Education and Celebration of Black HistoryFreedom is seeing your history and culture accurately taught, reflected, and celebrated. Black history, in general, and slavery, in particular, is poorly taught throughout the United States.''Teaching Hard History: American Slavery.'' Southern Poverty Law Center. 2018. For example, slavery was cited as a central reason for the Civil War by only eight percent of high school seniors.''Teaching Hard History: American Slavery.'' Southern Poverty Law Center. 2018. This is largely due to our nation's failure to reconcile our history and reshape how it is taught to be more accurate, honest, and inclusive. This history of Black people in the United States did not start with slavery, and it did not end with the Civil Rights Movement. We are committed to correcting the record and developing a strategy for inclusive ongoing representation and commemoration of the contributions of Black people in the United States.
    • Promoting the education and celebration of Black history is critical to the maintenance of ongoing dialogue about racism and race relations in the United States.
    • We will increase funding to the National Endowment for the Arts and create targeted grant funding aimed to promote the ongoing documentation of Black history and promotion of Black culture in the United States. Freedom means seeing your history and culture accurately represented in museums, libraries, and other cultural representations on an ongoing basis. It is not just remembering the past, but also acknowledging great talent and cultural contributions in the present. We will preserve cultural and historic sites documenting the history of Black people in the United States. We will prioritize grant funding through the Institute of Museum and Library Services to assist in the collection of materials, as well as the diversification of current museums and libraries.We will write ''Dear Colleague'' letters outlining best practices for the content and instruction inclusive of Black history and the contributions of Black Americans. These letters will provide guidance to schools on how to incorporate Black history throughout the K-12 curriculum, and not just into a certain unit during certain months or grade levels.Criminal Justice ReformAt every level of the criminal justice system''from over-policing, to over-prosecution, to over-sentencing, to conditions while incarcerated, to reintegration upon release''Black Americans are subject to systemic racism.Elizabeth Hinton, LeShae Henderson, and Cindy Reed, ''An Unjust Burden: The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System,'' Vera Institute of Justice. May 2018. To excise the injustices of racism from this system, we must address every stage of the criminal process, recognize the ways they interact with each other, and invest in social programs to mitigate the harmful effects. We must ensure less contact with an over-reaching criminal justice system. Once people are released from incarceration, we must ensure they are free to reintegrate into society and have the support to do so.
    • Ensure more people are free by significantly reducing the number of people incarcerated in the United States at both the federal and state level by 50%.
    • Experts agree that far too many people are locked up unnecessarily.Austin, James, Ph. D., Lauren-Brooke Eisen, J.D., James Cullen, B.A., and Jonathan Frank, J.D. ''How Many Americans Are Unnecessarily Incarcerated?'' Brennan Center For Justice. 2016. As a result, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.''Highest to Lowest '' Prison Population Rate.'' Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Accessed June 18, 2019. It is nearly five times the rate of incarceration in the United Kingdom, and over 10 times that of the Netherlands.As a result, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.[footnote]''Highest to Lowest '' Prison Population Rate.'' Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Accessed June 18, 2019. If we were to reduce this rate by 50%, we would still have the 28th highest incarceration rate globally''just after Nicaragua.As a result, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world.[footnote]''Highest to Lowest '' Prison Population Rate.'' Institute for Criminal Policy Research. Accessed June 18, 2019. In some cases, incarceration actually leads to an increase in crime.Stemen, Don, ''The Prison Paradox: More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer'' Vera Institute of Justice. 2017. It's not just a matter of closing down prisons; we also need to invest in social services and diversion programs, and allow people to rehabilitate. We need better ways to address crime and poverty, both in the criminal justice system and in society.
    • We will double funding for federal grants for states that commit to criminal justice reform, and prioritize funding for programs aimed at pretrial reforms, decarceration, and expansion of alternative to incarceration (ATI) programs. It is not enough to simply reduce the number of incarcerated people. We must address the root causes of racism, poverty, and crime''and doing so will require resources. These grants will allow states to reduce their incarcerated populations while investing in programs that make communities safer, including drug rehabilitation, affordable housing, and subsidized transportation. It will also triple funding for technical assistance and training efforts. Such incentives will help states reform their systems, while grant requirements will hold states accountable to follow through. We will, on the federal level, eliminate incarceration for drug possession, reduce sentences for other drug offenses and apply these reductions retroactively, legalize marijuana and expunge past convictions. Despite equal rates of use, Black Americans are nearly four times as likely to be arrested for using marijuana.''The War on Marijuana in Black and White.'' American Civil Liberties Union. June 2013. Research shows that incarceration for drug offenses has no effect on drug misuse, drug arrests, or overdose deaths.''More Imprisonment Does Not Reduce State Drug Problems.'' The Pew Charitable Trusts. March 8, 2018. In fact, some studies show that incarceration actually increases the rate of overdose deaths.Pearl, Betsy. ''Ending the War on Drugs.'' Center for American Progress. June 27, 2018. We cannot incarcerate ourselves out of this public health problem.We will eliminate mandatory minimums. In 2017, 13,577 people were convicted of an offense carrying a mandatory minimum penalty.''Quick Facts: Mandatory Minimum Penalties.'' United States Sentencing Commission. The average sentence length for someone subject to a mandatory minimum penalty that year was 138 months, compared to 28 months as the average sentence of people convicted of an offense that did not have a mandatory minimum sentence.''Quick Facts: Mandatory Minimum Penalties.'' United States Sentencing Commission. Eliminating mandatory minimums and decreasing overall sentence length for a significant number of crimes is critical to our ensuring that people are not incarcerated when there is no reasonable public safety purpose.We will commute the sentences of people who are incarcerated in the federal system beyond what justice warrants by establishing an independent clemency commission that sits outside the Department of Justice. Historically, clemency was more commonly used than it is now, and was done on a collective scale.Barkow, Rachel E. and Mark Osler. ''Restructuring Clemency: The Cost of Ignoring Clemency and a Plan for Renewal.'' University of Chicago Law Review. 2015. An independent clemency commission, with diverse professional backgrounds and lived experiences, will make the process more streamlined and comprehensive.We will fight the profit motive in the criminal justice system, including by abolishing private federal prisons. Private prisons make more money when more people are incarcerated.''Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration.'' American Civil Liberties Union. November 2011. This has contributed to a ballooning incarceration rate and has no place in our criminal justice system.We will abolish private federal prisons and significantly reduce the use of private contractors by incentivizing states to stop their services in areas such as health care, food services, communications, diversion, and supervision. We will support states that are eliminating the for-profit bail industry, which generates millions for a small number of insurance corporations, and work to eliminate wealth-based incarceration by making sure bail is never set beyond an individual's ability to pay.''Selling Off Our Freedom.'' American Civil Liberties Union. May 2017.We will work with states to cap the amount of revenue cities and counties receive from fines and fees so that police can focus on protecting public safety rather than raising revenue. The Department of Justice will coordinate collecting data on these fines and fees and make it publicly available.We will reduce the criminalization of poverty and its link to incarceration. Stories of Ferguson's use of fines and fees shocked our conscience, but this issue is not just a Ferguson problem. Criminal justice-related debts are estimated to be in the tens of billions of dollars, with over 10 billion owed in California alone.Taylor, Mac. ''Improving California's Criminal Fine and Fee System.'' Legislative Analyst's Office. January 2016. In a recent study in Alabama, 83% of individuals said they gave up necessities such as rent, food, and medical bills to pay their court debts''and 38% admitted to committing another crime just to be able to pay.''Under Pressure: How Fines and Fees Hurt People, Undermine Public Safety, and Drive Alabama's Racial Wealth Divide.'' Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice et. al. These targeted fines and fees are most often imposed in and negatively impact Black communities.''Targeted Fines and Fees Against Communities of Color,'' U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Sept. 2017.; Kopf, Dan. ''The Fining of Black America.'' Priceonomics. June 24, 2016.We will push to eliminate arrests and incarceration as punishment for failing to pay legal financial obligations, require states to account for a person's ability to pay before levying fines and fees, and end practices that create additional economic burdens, such as suspending driver's licenses for failing to pay criminal justice debts.We will appoint people deeply committed to achieving this goal. We will appoint an Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, and U.S. Sentencing Commissioners who are committed to the fundamental transformation of the criminal justice system. We will ensure that the federal bench includes more women and people of color. We will also prioritize deepening the experience of the bench by appointing former public defenders and civil rights attorneys who share a commitment to the protection and expansion of civil rights and civil liberties.Protect people's freedom from draconian criminal justice practices and safeguard their freedom to reform and rehabilitate while incarcerated.
    • Freedom is not binary. Just because the state has taken away someone's freedom in certain ways does not mean it has the right to subject people to inhumane conditions while they are incarcerated.
    • We will support a constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty. Black people comprise 42% of those currently awaiting execution, and 34% of total executions since 1976.''Death Row U.S.A.'' NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Spring 2019. Abolition is the only way to address the blatant prejudice in our application of the death penalty.Knake, Renee. ''Abolishing Death.'' Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy. (2018): 1-14.We will reduce the over-reliance on solitary confinement and abolish its prolonged use, bringing the United States in line with international human rights standards, which view the use of solitary confinement in excess of 15 days as per se torture.''International Human Rights Law on Solitary Confinement.'' Human Rights First. Summer 2015.We will ensure people who are incarcerated have access to education, health care, and rehabilitation.
    • We will restore Pell Grant access to people who are incarcerated.
    • Studies show that access to postsecondary education while incarcerated increases the likelihood of finding jobs upon release and decreases recidivism rates.''Investing in Futures: Economic and Fiscal Benefits of Postsecondary Education in Prison.'' Vera Institute of Justice. January 2019; Davis, Lois M., Robert Bozick, Jennifer L. Steele, Jessica Saunders, and Jeremy N. V. Miles, Evaluating the Effectiveness of Correctional Education: A Meta-Analysis of Programs That Provide Education to Incarcerated Adults. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2013. Because so many people in the criminal justice system lack high school diplomas or GEDs,Harlow, Caroline Wolf, Ph. D. ''Education and Correctional Populations.'' Bureau of Justice Statistics. April 15, 2003. we will also massively increase Title I funding from the federal government for states that commit to supporting K-12 education of justice-system-involved people.
    • We will remove the Medicaid exception for incarcerated people. An unjust criminal justice system means an unjust health care system. Currently, correctional health care is neither paid for by federal health dollars, nor subject to quality controls and oversight that would accompany these funds. The result is a separate and lower standard of care in jails and prisons that has deadly implications for people suffering from opioid use and substance use disorders, mental health issues, and chronic illnesses.Vasan, Ashwin. '''Medicare for All' Is Missing a Vital Group: The Incarcerated.'' The Marshall Project. March 21, 2019.; Editorial Board. ''It's Time to End the Callous Policy of Inmate Medicaid Exclusion.'' The Washington Post. May 12, 2019. This rule also creates avoidable gaps in care during re-entry into the community, such that people released from prison are 12 times as likely to die within the first two weeks after releaseBinswanger, Ingrid A., M.D., Marc F. Stern, M.D., Richard A. Deyo, M.D., and Patrick J. Heagerty, Ph. D. ''Release from Prison '-- A High Risk of Death for Former Inmates.'' The New England Journal of Medicine 356 (January 11, 2007): 157-65., and up to 130 times as likely to overdose from opioidsBinswanger, Ingrid A. ''Mortality After Prison Release: Opioid Overdose and Other Causes of Death, Risk Factors, and Time Trends From 1999 to 2009.'' Annals of Internal Medicine 159, no. 9 (November 5, 2013): 592-600., as the general population. We will ensure that those who are incarcerated receive the same, high-quality standard of treatment that all Americans deserve.We will provide funding to empower states to provide better opportunities for individuals to prepare for life after incarceration. States are already working on reforms that provide better opportunities for incarcerated individuals, and we want to encourage, support, and greatly expand these reforms. For example, programs like South Carolina's Second Chance Program''Second Chance Program.'' South Carolina Department of Employment and Workforce. could be expanded across the country to help people who are incarcerated prepare for employment once they return home.We will ensure that the cost of fundamental services and programs is not the financial responsibility of people who are incarcerated or their family members''including adequate nutrition, phone calls to family members, doctor visits, money transfers, and access to public defenders, probation, parole, and incarceration itself. Too often these costs are borne by Black women and contribute to the financial burdens of Black families.Morris, Monique W. ''Are Black Women Paying the Costs of Incarceration?'' Ebony. September 18, 2015.Protect the freedom for people with criminal convictions to fully integrate into society by providing the tools necessary for success, while reducing government intrusion in people's lives.
    • We will significantly reduce the use of supervised release on the federal level by limiting it to two years, cutting burdensome requirements and technical constraints, and making it harder to be sent back to prison for small violations of the terms of release.''Number of Offenders on Federal Supervised Release Hits All-Time High.'' The Pew Charitable Trusts. January 24, 2017. Through the use of grants and allocated matching funds, we will incentivize states to improve probation and parole practices, including implementing a presumption of release on parole and eliminating discretionary violations of terms of release or supervision (e.g., missing a check-in, being late for curfew, or substance use)Jones, Alexi. ''Correctional Control 2018: Incarceration and Supervision by State.'' Prison Policy Initiative. December 2018. as a basis for returning someone to confinement.We will ensure that people with convictions have the freedom to access education, jobs, housing, and health care. We will support ban the box initiatives and other ways to ensure that people with criminal records have equal access to employment. In order to avoid unintended consequences of these kinds of programs, we will direct the Department of Labor to issue guidance and model policies aimed at reducing implicit bias and encourage private employers to adopt these practices.Doleac, Jennifer L. ''Increasing Employment for Individuals with Criminal Records.'' The Hamilton Project. October 2016; Craigie, Terry-Ann, Employment After Incarceration: Ban the Box and Racial Discrimination, The Brennan Center. October 13, 2017.We will increase the availability of tax credits and bond insurance for employers who hire formerly incarcerated people.We will lift barriers that prevent formerly incarcerated people from accessing public benefits, including housing credits and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). We will also incentivize state and local government to end similar restrictions. We will restore the right to vote for all formerly incarcerated people immediately upon release from confinement''not contingent on any payment of fines or fees and not contingent on the completion of supervised release''as part of the 21st Century Voting Rights Act. Over 6 million Americans cannot vote due to a felony conviction.''Felony Disenfranchisement.'' The Sentencing Project. One out of every 13 Black Americans is prohibited from voting due to a felony conviction, more than four times the rate of white Americans.''Felony Disenfranchisement.'' The Sentencing Project. We will also ensure that people who remain in their communities after a conviction never lose the right to vote.Protect the freedom of Black people in America by bringing fewer people into the criminal justice system in the first place and minimizing police overreach.
    • Black people have a higher likelihood of arrest by age 28 than white people, and Black people with disabilities have an even higher likelihood.McCauley, Erin J., M. Ed. ''The Cumulative Probability of Arrest by Age 28 Years in the US by Disability Status, Race/Ethnicity, and Gender.'' American Journal of Public Health 107, no. 12. November 8, 2017: 1977-981. There is no national database of officer-involved shootings, but available data show that Black people are disproportionately subject to excessive force''including deadly force''from police officers. This disparity is even worse when considering unarmed people killed by the police.Lopez, German. ''There Are Huge Racial Disparities in How US Police Use Force.'' Vox. November 14, 2018. We need accountability, training, and enforcement to ensure that no more Black people are unjustifiably arrested and that no more Black lives are wrongly lost at the hands of police officers.
    • We will establish comprehensive measures to hold police accountable to their communities. We will establish a comprehensive federal database both documenting use of force and tracking officers who are fired from their duties, and develop corresponding accountability practices for police use of force.We will develop incentives to encourage states to make public data related to the use of force, line-of-duty deaths, policing activities (including traffic stops), officer safety and wellness, officer misconduct, arrests and charging, and crime. As a precondition for federal grants, we will require law enforcement agencies to publish documents like protocols and manuals that promote transparency '' especially related to use of force investigations, technology, surveillance, and intelligence. We will bolster funding to increase the number of police departments that use body-worn cameras and develop a national analytics process for public safety processes and results. We will reinvigorate the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and direct it to investigate law enforcement agencies that have a pattern or practice of violating civil rights and the Constitution, including by racial profiling, and reinstitute the Collaborative Reform Initiative in which the Department of Justice supported communities working to do the right thing.We will promote legislation that raises the legal standard under which officers are justified to use lethal force and offer incentives for states and localities to adopt more restrictive policies. Too many states and cities use a ''reasonableness'' standard for use of force; some lack any laws governing use of force. Many law enforcement agencies lack substantive guidance past the ''bare minimum'' constitutional standard.Obasogie, Osagie K., Ph. D., and Zachary Newman, J.D. ''Police Violence, Use of Force Policies, and Public Health.'' American Journal of Law & Medicine 43 (2017): 279-95. Stricter policies regarding use of force correlate with fewer deaths at the hands of police.Sinyangwe, Samuel. ''Examining the Role of Use of Force Policies in Ending Police Violence.'' Use of Force Project. September 20, 2016. We will promote policies and training that require de-escalation efforts and limit lethal force to circumstances when it is absolutely necessary.We will work to eliminate unfair and discriminatory practices, such as broken windows-style policing, that are shown to be biased against people of color. This will require us to train officers and departments to prioritize the most serious offenses while creating diversion opportunities such as Seattle's LEAD program and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Justice Program, for less serious offenses. We will support departments that actively strengthen community relationships and implement community policing, and we will encourage other departments to follow their lead. This includes departments that have recruited a diverse police force that reflects their communities, encourages hiring of police officers who live in communities they serve, and departments that have effectively responded to officer misconduct. Such departments have selection and promotional policies that reward officers not simply on enforcement.We will promote effective, informed independent civilian oversight of state and local law enforcement agencies. We will support such local civilian oversight bodies where they exist, and incentivize states and localities to create civilian oversight bodies if lacking. We will provide incentives for civilian oversight bodies to have transparent policies so communities can better understand the policies governing the police.We will invest in community-based health care, especially mental health services, and other front-end social supports that will minimize the need for police officers to serve as de facto social workers and allow them to resume their primary role as guardians of public safety. I had a wholesome dread of the consequences of running in debt. '' Frederick Douglass You aren't secure without economic security, which is closed off to many who have been excluded from accessing the wealth engine that is American capitalism. The racial wealth gap is the most visible economic consequence of our long history of discrimination against Black Americans. The legacy of slavery is a legacy of stolen labor and stolen wealth. For every $100 in wealth a white family has, the average Black family only has $5.04''and nearly three-quarters are dissatisfied with the current economic state for Black communities.Molyneux, Guy, Mario Brossard, and Corrie Hunt. ''Black Americans' Views on an Economic Agenda for the Black Community.'' Black Economic Alliance. June 5, 2019. Slavery, segregation, redlining, predatory lending, and other systemic discriminatory practices created this dynamic, and the Douglass Plan will take deliberate steps to dismantle those systems while providing the necessary capital and tools to mitigate wealth and opportunity gaps.
    • Average wealth per family
    • Equal Employment and Business OpportunityA third of Black Americans report either owning a businesses or expecting to start one within the next five years, yet 57% of this group say they frequently worry about not being able to secure a loan.Molyneux, Guy, Mario Brossard, and Corrie Hunt. ''Black Americans' Views on an Economic Agenda for the Black Community.'' Black Economic Alliance. June 5, 2019. After the Great Recession, minority-owned businesses added 1.3 million jobs to our national economy.''Survey of Business Owners and Self-Employed Persons.'' United States Census Bureau. Black and Latinx entrepreneurs respectively comprised 14% and 8% of entrepreneurs in 2015, though their combined revenue was less than 2% of the total $33.5 trillion in revenue from all entrepreneurs.''The State of Inclusive Entrepreneurship: By the Numbers.'' The Case Foundation. October 1, 2018.
    • The Walker-Lewis Initiative aims to triple the number of entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds within 10 years. Inspired by Black business pioneers Madam CJ Walker and Reginald Lewis, the goal of this initiative is to create up to 3 million new jobs in minority communities and across the country overall. This initiative has four main elements:
    • We will create the federal Walker-Lewis Entrepreneurship Fund to invest in entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds. This fund will co-invest in funds with the explicit goal of investing in entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds, particularly based in low-income and minority communities. The government would co-invest up to $10 billion within five years, which will activate another $10 billion of private capital. Additionally, there would be corresponding investments in increasing access to capital, entrepreneur training and development, and rigorous measurement and data tracking.We will introduce the Walker-Lewis Debt-for-Jobs Plan to help students start businesses. Every student who was eligible for Pell Grants while in school will have his or her college loans deferred and forgiven over a five-year period if they start and maintain a business employing at least three people within five years of leaving school. We will launch the Walker-Lewis Promise to aim to award 25% of federal contracting dollars to small business owners from underserved communities in urban and rural areas, including minority-owned firms (currently nearly 10%) and women-owned firms (currently at 5%).Janetsky, Megan. ''Women- and Minority-owned Businesses Receive Only a Small Fraction of Federal Contracts.'' OpenSecrets.org. Overall federal contracting in 2017 was over $500 billion.Janetsky, Megan. ''Women- and Minority-owned Businesses Receive Only a Small Fraction of Federal Contracts.'' OpenSecrets.org. Awarding more contracts to business owners who are economically and socially disadvantaged would inject over $100 billion in underserved communities.We will convene a Walker-Lewis Task Force to identify additional ways to reach our entrepreneurship goals and report back to the President within the first 100 days of the Buttigieg Administration. Appointed by the President and chaired by the Secretary of Commerce and a prominent minority business leader, this taskforce will be a highly diverse and credentialed collection of entrepreneurs and will represent the federal government's deepest collaboration with the minority business community. This commission will also work to secure additional private sector commitments to increase minority entrepreneurship.In addition, we will supercharge investment (5X) in minority-held depositories. Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) have been lending to low-income, low-wealth, and overlooked communities for decades. They are connected to and understand the needs of communities. We want to increase the ability of CDFIs to invest in entrepreneurs, nonprofits, and businesses in their communities. The Douglass Plan would provide five times the community reinvestment act (CRA) credit or ''super credits' to banks who invest more capital in minority-owned CDFIs.
    • Based on decades of systemic racism and exclusion, Black Americans continue to be disproportionately unemployed and underemployed, especially young African American men. In most occupations and professions, Black Americans continue to be underrepresented, especially in executive, management, and leadership positions. The gaps in promotion and pay are even larger for Black American women in the workforce. There are numerous, inter-connected reasons for this persistent employment gap that require both short-term and long-term solutions. We will therefore:
    • Vigorously enforce civil rights laws ensuring equal opportunity through the Department of Justice, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and Department of Labor.Raise the minimum wage to at least $15: Black workers are disproportionately likely to earn less than $15 per hour''Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2018''. Bureau of Labor Statistics. March 2019., so increasing the minimum wage will especially empower Black Americans.Support career mentorship, employee resource groups, and peer support programs and initiatives across multiple industries and occupations; convene White House Summits on equal employment opportunity by sector, e.g. by the Department of Health and Human Services to address the persistent underrepresentation of Black Americans in medicine, dentistry, and nursing.Finally, we will appoint Cabinet Secretaries, presidential appointees, and White House staff that include Black Americans and reflect the diversity of America. We will appoint Black Americans and other people of color to Presidential commissions, task forces, and advisory bodies. Our Office of Public Engagement will establish and build relationships with community leaders and stakeholders from across Black America''teachers, health professionals, business leaders, faith leaders, artists, professional athletes, community organizers''to make sure there are seats at every federal government table to listen to and be more accountable to Black America.
    • The Community Homestead ActSeventy-four percent of neighborhoods that were redlined in the 1930s remain low-income to this day, and 64% remain majority-minority.Mitchell, Bruce, Ph. D., and Juan Franco. ''HOLC ''redlining'' Maps: The Persistent Structure of Segregation and Economic Inequality.'' National Community Reinvestment Coalition. March 20, 2018. Meanwhile, policies from the New Deal to the G.I. Bill to the Federal Housing Administration of the 1950s and 1960s directly invested in white homeownership while purposely excluding Black Americans.Perry, Andre M., Jonathan Rothwell, and David Harshbarger. ''The Devaluation of Assets in Black Neighborhoods.'' Brookings. November 27, 2018. This investment has compounded over generations and combined with centuries of conscious and intentional discrimination to entrench the racial wealth gap.Misra, Tanvi. ''Why America's Racial Wealth Gap Is Really a Homeownership Gap.'' CityLab. March 12, 2015.
    • Equalizing homeownership rates amongst races would reduce the racial wealth gap between white and Black families by 31%.
    • The Douglass Plan proposes a 21st Century Community Homestead Act to launch a public trust that would purchase abandoned properties and provide them to eligible residents in pilot cities while simultaneously investing in the revitalization of surrounding communities.
    • Building on work from the University of Georgia's Professor Mehrsa Baradaran, this plan will attack the racial wealth gap by directly fostering asset ownership among those previously prevented from accumulating capital, while simultaneously investing in the communities around them. Contrary to traditional private incentives for urban revitalization, this plan directly invests in the American people instead of further enriching private investors.
    • Under the 21st Century Community Homestead Act:
    • Cities would place bids through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for comprehensive financing provided by a new ''Homeownership Fund''.The HUD Task Force would choose cities based on factors such as available employment, new employment to be created, public spaces, the amount of land and property available, the magnitude of affordable housing needs, the prospect of revitalization, community participation in the plan, and the environmental effects of revitalization.An eligible grantee would be a resident who has less than the area median income (AMI) over the last five years and is 1) a current resident of the pilot area who has lived in the area for a period of at least three years during the previous decade; or 2) a current resident of any historically redlined or racially-segregated area or a resident of such an area for at least three years over the previous decade.Participating homeowners would be granted absolute ownership of the land, with a 10-year forgivable lien to promote the rehabilitation of the home and its use as a primary residence. The entire value of the home's appreciation would be enjoyed by the homeowner. Each pilot city would create a plan to work with local organizations and entrepreneurs to build facilities, infrastructure, and/or technology to spur job creation. The Homeownership Fund would fund infrastructure, facilities, or a jobs program that suits the profile of the region. In addition to helping families across the nation, the investment in these communities would provide greater services and infrastructure for new industries and sectors to thrive, creating a multiplier effect of jobs and prosperity for local residents.
    • Public Health, Infrastructure, and Environmental JusticePublic health is a fundamental part of our nation's infrastructure. Just as we depend on government to provide transportation and public safety, we need good government to protect us from disease, environmental threats, natural disasters, and bioterrorist attacks. However, only about a third of local public health systems are able to deliver all core public health functions,''Measuring Public Health System Capital.'' Systems for Action. and funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention''which is responsible for supporting state and local public health departments''has decreased by 10% in the last decade.Faberman, Rhea. ''The Impact of Chronic Underfunding of America's Public Health System: Trends, Risks, and Recommendations, 2019.'' Trust for America's Health.
    • These shortcomings in our current public health systems and infrastructure disproportionately affect communities of color and the poor. For example:
    • Water: Flint is not alone. A 2017 Reuters study indicated that almost 4,000 communities had levels of lead in water or homes twice as high as Flint's.Pell, M. B., and Joshua Schneyer. ''Reuters Finds 3,810 U.S. Areas with Lead Poisoning Double Flint's.'' Reuters. November 14, 2017. In 2015, more than 18,000 water systems''serving 77 million people''violated federal water quality regulations.Fedinick, Kristi Pullen, Mae Wu, and Erik D. Olson. ''Threats on Tap: Widespread Violations Highlight Need for Investment in Water Infrastructure and Protections.'' Natural Resources Defense Council. May 2, 2017.Housing: Up to 40 million homes''primarily in poor communities''have one or more health and safety hazards, such as lead, mold, asbestos, or poor indoor air quality. These health and safety hazards result in higher rates of asthma and other chronic conditions, injury, and poor mental health.Air: Those living in poverty are 35% more likely to live in a neighborhood with poor air quality; Black Americans are 54% more likely to live in such conditions.Ihab Mikati, Adam F. Benson, Thomas J. Luben, Jason D. Sacks, Jennifer Richmond-Bryant, ''Disparities in Distribution of Particulate Matter Emission Sources by Race and Poverty Status'', American Journal of Public Health 108, no. 4 (April 1, 2018): pp. 480-485.We can make measurable progress towards mitigating negative health impacts that disproportionately impact communities of color through the following actions:
    • We will expand enforcement of environmental protections and invest in solutions to environmental threats, particularly focusing on communities of color and working families who face disproportionate health effects from pollution, tainted water, and inadequate infrastructure.
    • The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will once again lead with science in developing regulations to protect Americans from environmental hazards. The EPA will be required to consider environmental justice in all its regulatory decisions.As part of rebuilding the nation's infrastructure, a coordinated effort among the EPA, HUD, and CDC will be undertaken to address lead-based paint in aging housing stock. Current federal investments will be increased and consolidated in a Lead Paint Mitigation Fund to ensure all communities in need have the resources required to address this health threat.As a part of rebuilding our public health infrastructure, we will create a 21st-century public health data system that expands on existing environmental health tracking networks''National Environment Public Health Tracking Network.'' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. to provide an early warning system, down to the neighborhood level, of health threats''from the effects of climate change and other environmental changes to clusters of chronic and infectious disease.We will ensure expanded and equitable disaster preparedness and relief, so that all communities get the resources they need to prepare for and recover and rebuild from disasters, whether due to hurricanes in Puerto Rico, Texas, or Florida; wildfires in California; or flooding and tornadoes in the Midwest.
    • This will require a departure from ''business as usual'' between the executive and legislative branches to ensure:
    • Stable and predictable funding for public health infrastructure to prepare for and mitigate disasters.Rapid deployment of federal assets to assist communities and emergency reserve funds for public health disaster relief and rebuilding, so that communities do not have to wait for Congressional action. Lack of presidential and federal government leadership during Hurricane Katrina took over 1,800 lives, disproportionately Black residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.''Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts.'' CNN. August 30, 2018. And the most recent delay while Congress and the President argued over hurricane relief for Puerto Rico not only cost lives and slowed recoverySchwartz, Emma. ''Hurricane Maria's New Death Toll Estimate Is Higher than Katrina's.'' Frontline. August 28, 2018., but also held hostage other communities in need of critical assistance. Many of these solutions require integrating resources from across the federal government, including from the Departments of Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, Transportation, and the Environmental Protection Agency. It will also require new investments along the lines described in the LIFT America Act,Leading Infrastructure for Tomorrow's America Act, H.R. 2479, 115 Cong. (2017). which takes a comprehensive approach to rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, including creating a new pathway for funding comprehensive public health capabilities.U.S. House of Representatives. ''Pallone Unveils Comprehensive Infrastructure Package.'' News release, May 17, 2017. Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr.
    • Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? '' Frederick Douglass The quest to build a more perfect union is bound in the struggle to build a democracy that includes every citizen. For Black communities, that struggle has involved a civil war, the armed terror of white supremacists, and a shameful century of Jim Crow laws. Yet even after the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the promise of equal access to the ballot is still unfulfilled. Ten years ago, Black voter turnout surged to unprecedented levels, but this historic moment sparked a renewed era of discriminatory voter suppression.
    • Since 2010, 25 states have enacted laws making it harder to vote''including voter purges, discriminatory voter ID requirements, cuts to early voting, voter registration and absentee ballot restrictions, and the disenfranchisement of returning citizens.
    • Unscrupulous election administrators have manipulated election procedures to further target communities of color, subjecting them to shorter voting periods and longer waiting times. Political operatives and even foreign adversaries like Russia have used disinformation campaigns to suppress the Black vote.''State of Black America.'' National Urban League. 2019. And even when Black voters overcome these hurdles, their voting power is too often diminished by gerrymandered legislative districts. Meanwhile, Republican leaders in Congress have refused to renew the Voting Rights Act even after the Supreme Court dismantled some of its key protections.
    • Voting Rights and Money in PoliticsThe Douglass Plan proposes a 21st Century Voting Rights Act that will use every resource of the federal government to end all types of voter suppression, expand voting access, and create a democracy where the rights of each citizen no longer depend on the color of their skin, the community they live in, or for whom they want to vote.
    • We will make democracy inclusive by expanding access to the ballot.
    • Approximately one in five eligible voters is not registered to vote.''Why Are Millions of Citizens Not Registered to Vote?'' The Pew Charitable Trusts. June 21, 2017. Registration must be made easier, by automatically registering eligible voters using information the government already has, allowing online and same-day registration, and making registration portable within states. Voting must be made easier and more accessible by allowing early voting and vote-by-mail, making Election Day a national holiday, and by setting and enforcing standards for poll workers and the distribution of voting machines. Voting must also be made accessible to all, including through accessible registration materials and other language access provisions, and greater accessibility at polling places.
    • Approximately one in five eligible voters is not registered to vote.
    • We will protect the right to vote by using the full power of the federal government to combat voter suppression.Weaponized voting laws and the discriminatory administration of elections cannot be allowed to continue disenfranchising Black voters. We need to authorize a new preclearance procedure under the Voting Rights Act to enable the federal government to block racist voting laws before they take effect. We need to create and enforce standards for voter roll maintenance to stop discriminatory voter purges, neutralize the effects of restrictive voter ID bills by allowing people to vote with a sworn written statement of identity, and increase and enforce criminal penalties for people who try to interfere with a person's right to vote. And in the era of Facebook and unaccredited news sites, we need to work with tech companies and develop policies that limit the spread of false information online.
    • DC Statehood and Electoral CollegeWe will give full political representation to the people of D.C.If it were a state, Washington, D.C. would have the highest proportion of Black citizens''approximately 50%''of any state. Indeed, it would be the only state in the union where Black Americans were not a racial minority.''African American Population by State.'' Black Demographics. We need Congress to redefine the District of Columbia to include only government buildings in the city center and create a new state, ''New Columbia,'' from the remaining territory. This would give D.C.'s roughly 700,000 residents the full representation afforded to every state: one congressperson, two Senators, and three Electoral Votes. The newly redefined District of Columbia would still be entitled to three electoral votes by the 23rd Amendment, which we propose awarding to the winner of the National Popular Vote. This would eliminate the possibility of an Electoral College tie, which at present would allow Congress to decide the winner of a presidential election regardless of the popular vote.
    • We will replace the Electoral College with a National Popular Vote.The Electoral College artificially dilutes the power of minority communities, especially Black Americans living in Southern states.Gelman, Andrew, and Pierre-Antoine Kremp. ''The Electoral College Magnifies the Power of White Voters.'' Vox. December 17, 2016. Due to projected demographic trends, this problem is likely to get worse over time. We need to abolish the Electoral College and replace it with a National Popular Vote so that every citizen has a say in electing our president.
    • Fair and Equal Political RepresentationWe will reduce the power of big money in politics and elevate ordinary voices.The economic imbalance in our campaign finance system sustains a racial bias because wealthy donors are overwhelmingly white, with policy priorities often out of step with Black voters and the general public.Lioz, Adam. ''Stacked Deck: How the Racial Bias in Our Big Money Political System Undermines Our Democracy and Our Economy.'' Demos. December 2014. We need to create a strong public financing system that matches small donors so average citizens can run for office funded by their communities, not big donors. We need to appoint judges who understand that corporations aren't people and money isn't speech. And we must pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and Buckley vs. Valeo to stop wealthy interests from dominating our democracy.
    • We will fix the harms caused by a politicized and inaccurate Census count.An accurate Census is a cornerstone of our democracy. It ensures that everyone has equal political representation and that every community receives its fair share of federal funding. Historically, the Census has undercounted Black Americans and other communities of color, undermining their right to equal representation and depriving them of critical resources for health care, education, and infrastructure. We will closely examine the conduct of the 2020 Census to determine whether Black voters were undercounted, and will work with federal agencies and Congress to address the effects of any undercount on federal funding.
    • We will fight discriminatory racial gerrymandering.Historically, state legislatures have used the redistricting process to diminish Black America's power and representation. These efforts have often built on other systemic injustices, such as exploiting residential segregation by ''packing'' Black voters into a handful of voting districts, or compounding the effects of mass incarceration by using ''prison gerrymandering'' to transfer political power away from Black communities. Since 2010, federal courts have struck down voting district maps in Alabama, North Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, as discriminatory, while lawsuits continue in Georgia, Mississippi, and Louisiana. But voters should not have to go to court and spend years to vindicate their voting rights. Even when successful, these lawsuits cannot undo the initial loss of political representation. We will address discriminatory racial gerrymandering and partisan gerrymandering''which often has the same effect''by ensuring that Congressional redistricting is conducted by independent, statewide commissions using fair and non-discriminatory redistricting rules.
    • Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. ''Frederick Douglass So let's demand greater freedom, security, and democracy for communities that need it most. And while we do not pretend to have all the answers, a fully effective program for empowering Black America will require further listening to voices from communities themselves. The deep wounds of centuries will not be healed with a handful of targeted programs. But with the Douglass Plan, a Buttigieg Administration will make an unprecedented commitment to listen to and lift up those who have historically faced discrimination. This amounts to a commitment to replace racist systems with inclusive ones. It is a down payment on the future we hope to see. Done right, we will enrich not only Black America, but all of America.
    • Footnotes
  • The Racial Wealth Gap: Addressing America's Most Pressing Epidemic
    • Link to Article
    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 20:43
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    • As we c elebrate Black History Month , we can take pride in the progress we've made while also acknowledging how far we have to go. One troubling sign of the work we have to do can be seen in a wealth gap between b lack Americans and w hite Americans that persists and even seems to be widening. It's a sobering reminder of how far we are from true equality.
    • I have always known that this gap (or ''chasm'' as one author described it) existed, but I didn't realize how large it was until I started researching this piece. The facts and figures truly frightened me. Today, I hope to raise awareness of this problem and suggest some practical steps to help resolve the issue.
    • The wealth gap
    • The wealth gap measures the difference between the median wealth of b lacks versus the median wealth of w hites. Almost all studies calculate wealth by adding up total assets (e.g., cash, retirement accounts, home, etc.) then subtracting liabilities (e.g., credit card debt, student loans, mortgage, etc.) The resulting figure is your net worth.
    • As I've argued before, net worth is probably the most important measure of overall financial health. It matters more than income, because high earnings, unfortunately , don't always translate into financial security. I experienced this often in representation of taxpayers before the IRS, several of whom had $300,000+ a year in income but over $500,000 of tax debt. While the income gap provides as huge hurdle to equality, the wealth gap presents a mountain.
    • Here are some of the statistics:
    • According to the New York Times, for every $100 in white family wealth, black families hold just $5.04. The Economic Policy Institute found that more than one in four black households have zero or negative net worth, compared to less than one in ten white families without wealth. The Institute for Policy Studies recent report The Road to Zero Wealth: How the Racial Divide is Hollowing Out the America's Middle Class (RZW) showed that between 1983 and 2013, the wealth of the median black household declined 75 percent (from $6,800 to $1,700), and the median Latino household declined 50 percent (from $4,000 to $2,000). At the same time, wealth for the median white household increased 14 percent from $102,000 to $116,800. You might think that t hat the economic outlook for the b lack community and other people of color has gotten better lately , given our President touting b lack unemployment is as low as it' s ever been. Yet RZW shows that far from getting better, the total economic picture for black people is still deteriorating . In fact, by 2020 (just two years away) black and Latino households are projected to lose even more wealth: 18 percent for the former, 12 percent for the latter. After those declines, the median white household will own 86 times more wealth than its black counterpart, and 68 times more wealth than its Latino one.
    • If this trend continues, the median black household wealth will hit zero by 2053.
    • How did this happen?
    • The term ''systemic racism'' ruffles a lot of feathers . It often triggers emotional arguments about how people feel about racism and its effects. Yet concrete data over long periods of time shows very clearly that systemic racism exists.
    • Blacks were historically prevented from building wealth by slavery and Jim Crow Laws (laws that enforced segregation in the south until the Civil Rights act of 1964) . Government policies including The Homestead Act, The Chinese Exclusion Act and even the Social Security Act, were often designed to exclude people of color.
    • For example, in the 1930s, as part of the New Deal, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) created loan programs to help make home ownership accessible to more Americans. The Government created color-coded maps '-- green for good neighborhoods and red for bad neighborhoods '-- to determine who got those loans. Spoiler alert: many neighborhoods were designated as red because b lacks and other people of color lived in them. This process, known as redlining, systematically prevented them from not only getting home loans but also encouraged developers in green areas to explicitly discriminate against non-whites. This often led households of color into wealth stripping ''land contracts,'' where they paid exorbitant prices for homes that they could lose very easily.
    • These polices resulted in 98% of home loans going to w hite families, from 1934 to 1962. Not only did the ability to purchase homes give w hites the ability to accrue wealth, it also attracted new businesses to those neighborhoods, which increased property values and allowed those homeowners access to other wealth building vehicles like going to college. As a result, wealth in the white communities compounded and passed to future generations.
    • Even after these policies were eliminated, the lack of wealth still prevented minorities from moving up to the green neighborhoods and kept the communities separated by race. Additionally, certain structures like a racially skewed criminal justice system and the tax code favoring the rich continue to contribute to this divide. The compounding effects of these types of laws have led to the wealth chasm that now exists . Even now, these e ffects are felt between otherwise similar families of different races . According to the Economic Policy Institute, the typical b lack family with a graduate or professional degree lagged its white counterpart in wealth by more than $200,000 .
    • What can we do?
    • Racial wealth inequality is a huge problem that not only affect communities of color but also will have a lasting impact on our country as a whole. Some 70% of our economic growth comes from consumer spending. As b lack and Latino households grow to become the majority of the population, their inability to spend due to the lack of wealth and paying down debt will slow economic growth. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to start correcting this problem now.
    • So what do we do about it? Here are a couple of solutions.
    • Spread the word
    • First and foremost, we need to spread the word. As pointed out in the New York Times, despite these staggering figures, we tend to forget or dismiss the research. Do your part to spread the word about this gap and help build the collective consciousness of the problem. Now is the time to be vigilant and understand we have a lot of work to do.
    • To keep yourself informed, I strongly encourage you to read the entire RZW study. The mind-blowing research helps put in to perspective the severity of the situation and how the racial divide will have a continuing negative impact our economy.
    • Support policies to end discrimination and engender parity
    • We got into this mess largely because government policies encouraged wealth building for w hite Americans to the detriment of b lack Americans and other communities of color. To fix it, we'll need policies that will help close the gap. RZW points out that no one initiative will do. The response needs to be wide spread including a racial wealth divide audit, improved data collection and tax reform. The study highlights many specific polices that we can institute and their individual impact. While we as individuals don't make policy, we elect the legislators who do. So we should use our collective voices to support and elect those people, especially people of color, that can put this type of policy policy reform in place.
    • Financial Education
    • The wealth divide isn't due to individual behaviors. However, because of the wealth insecurity, it's more important than ever that households of color make smart decisions with their money. So we need to start stripping away the taboos around talking about money and promote education for issues that particularly affect people of color. That will involve making the financial industry more accessible to people of color and creating programs like the Dead Day Job Army that support their specific needs.
    • I hope this post inspires you to take action now. This research has revolutionized the way I've understood the wealth divide and what I can do to help correct it. I would love to hear your ides, reactions and takeaways. Contact me on the links above.
  • ColorOfChange.com '' Color Of Change helps you do something real about injustice.
    • Link to Article
    • Archived Version
    • Mon, 30 Dec 2019 20:38
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    • Color Of Change helps people respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force driven by more than 1.5 million members, we move decision makers in corporations and government to create a more human and less hostile world for Black people, and all people. Until justice is real.
    • White Ex-Officer's Guilty Verdict Stuns Some Black AdvocatesRacial justice advocates across the country celebrate after a Dallas jury convicted police officer Amber Guyger for shooting and killing her Black neighbor Jean Botham in his home after she supposedly mistook his apartment for her own. This was a rare example of an officer being held responsible for taking an unarmed Black person's life. Rashad is quoted, ''We have a long history in this county of white women's tears and fear being an excuse for harming and killing Black people.''
    • social list opener PROFILE: An Activist for a Young GenerationOur very own Rashad Robinson is profiled in this piece on how COC is using traditional civil rights movement tactics alongside a new media savvy to take on big tech companies '-- and change some of their worst policies and practices harming Black people.
    • social list opener A Flimsy Case DismissedSince ''When They See Us'' aired on Netflix this summer, its portrayal of prosecutorial misconduct fueled a call by activists to have the Manhattan DA's Office reopen every case Linda Fairstein was involved while running the Sex-Crimes Unit. Malachi Robinson with COC is quoted, ''We know if there's one case of injustice, there's likely more.''
    • social list opener OP-ED: We Can't Trust Police to Protect Us from Racist ViolenceRashad Robinson writes about how white nationalists in the police forces, and why it's so important to continue fighting for police accountability in the wake of this month's mass shootings. ''If people in law enforcement want to be seen as experts on defeating white nationalism, shouldn't they have to get rid of all the white nationalists in their own ranks first?''
    • social list opener Facebook's Political Bias Review Tries to Understand Why Conservatives Don't Trust ItA new report on whether Facebook demotes conservative content ignores basic truths about how the platform hurts people of color. Rashad Robinson is quoted: ''Claims of anticonservative bias are simply an attempt to distract users and the media from the conservative movement's attacks against black communities and other marginalized groups.''
    • social list opener Strategic Initiatives
    • Democracy & Census
    • Black people have the power to shape our democracy and set the agenda when they speak up and turn out in elections.Through our Black Brunches we have brought together more than 20,000 people across 20 cities'--including many new to politics. Going into 2020, we have tremendous opportunities to register new voters, protect voting rights, and make sure our communities are counted and represented in the 2020 Census.We are engaging local leaders and our 1.4M members to help set a progressive agenda around criminal justice reform and boost civic participation in Black communities.
    • LEARN MOREWinning Justice
    • No one holds more power in our justice system than prosecutors. They decide who to prosecute, what the charges will be, and routinely make decisions that destroy Black people's lives.We are ushering in a new era of prosecutor accountability by mobilizing Black communities across the country. Already, we've pushed prosecutors and candidates in a dozen cities make pledges to cut incarceration. We continue to build momentum to end the most unjust, destructive and racist practices in our system from money bail to over-sentencing, over-policing, and sending our children to adult prisons.
    • LEARN MORECOC Hollywood
    • TV and film play a profound role in shaping American culture. Yet, when it comes to representation of Black people, culture, and issues, far too much of the content Hollywood produces promotes dangerous misunderstandings that holds back racial justice in the real world. COC Hollywood is our initiative to change the rules in Hollywood by ensuring accurate, diverse, empathetic and human portrayals of Black people onscreen. We consult on film and TV projects, partner with changemakers inside the industry, work to raise standards around hiring and diversity, and elevate Black stories.
    • LEARN MORE

• Music in this episode
  • Intro: Main Source - Lookin gout the front door
  • Outro: The Fascinations - I can't stay away from you

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