My Moral Awakening

 I believe it might be the insane level of housing wealth that mostly-white people hold in America which finally woke me up to the issues of structural racism that is embedded so deeply in our country.

This post is going to focus on Black history and its consequences. Obviously, other people of color, particularly indigenous communities (and some white folks, too), have been totally screwed-over as well.  There's caste and class and race, and it is a complicated story. Can't write about it all! I will just show you this partial chart for a snapshot of the problem in terms of wealth. 

The wealth gap is continually growing larger–it's doubled since 1989.

But first, confession time–my moral reawakening and, even, reckoning. As a girl and young women, I worked actively on issues of racial equity in the left-wing movement of the '60s and '70s. But then, as the New Left fell apart, I turned my attention to my job and working towards my retirement. And, damn, I just didn't do a thing anymore related to what a shit-show existed for people of color in urban ghettos and in rural areas of poverty, as I had when I was younger. I am sorry I disappeared as an ally; I am ashamed. I am not going to disappear again.

The film that really set me down the path of re-engaging my younger activist self was Bob Herbert's film about the making of the Black middle class, Chasing the Dream. I know I posted it several years ago at the time it came out. I was struck at the time–and remain struck–by how heroic every single Black person who clawed their way into the middle class in the mid-20th century was, given the so-called racial discrimination of the time. 

I say “so-called” because that is just too weak a term. It was very close to South African apartheid or the Nazi Nuremberg laws against the Jews. I am not just talking about the beyond-horrific Jim Crow South. I mean the nation-wide federal, state and local governments' efforts–and success–to maintain the Black population as a lower caste, trapped within urban ghettos or in poor rural areas with extremely poor schools, with virtually no access to credit, no access to mortgages, little access to higher education or well-paying jobs. The suburbs, or "exclusive parts" of cities were planned and executed to be white, with well-funded schools, parks, trees, etc.–with plenty of access to credit and mortgages and good jobs. The plan was–and succeeded in being–to keep whites as the dominant caste. 

If you don't know the history how forced segregation happened, I strongly urge you watch the 17 minute film I posted yesterday on Facebook, or watch it here: Segregated by Design 

The ending of these laws and practices happened gradually as the civil rights movement grew in the mid-20th century. The tide started to slowly turn with Supreme Court cases in the late '40s and '50s and  through the Civil Rights legislation in the mid to late '60s. But the damage had been done already, via slavery followed by the caste-based apartheid. And there was little help at all after the recognition of our grievous transgressions (except for a brief period of time during which there was “affirmative action”). There were no reparations for slavery (or even an apology!). No promised 40 acres and a mule. No remedies for the unconstitutional and unconscionable government policies that ensured and enshrined urban ghettos in the first half of the 20th century. Given the scope of the wealth stolen from Black people, this is an outrage.

White people have much more wealth than they should because of this history. It's called historically accumulated white privilege–and I have it for sure. Currently 86% of the household wealth is held in white families, who make up 60% of the population. To dismantle it, we need to start with big tax initiatives such as ending the stepped-up basis for assets at death, reinstating estate taxes at lower levels, eliminating the social security cap, increasing the tax on capital gains, and other such policies that currently keep the rich richer. This will help all poor people, regardless of color.

That said, we seem a long way from fixing it through our government. But I can, at least, do my part and encourage others to do theirs. We are in the process of the “great wealth transfer” as baby boomers offload their money to their heirs. I believe we need to rethink inheritance, which by law and custom is designed to keep the “haves” with a disproportionate share of wealth. I already blogged about that here.

Next post: what Leslie and I are going to do with our money.