“Oakland to give low-income residents $500 a month,” reads the headline, “no strings attached.”
Well, actually there may be just a little itty bitty filament attached to what CBS News calls “the latest experiment with a ‘guaranteed income,’ the idea that giving low-income individuals a regular, monthly stipend helps ease the stresses of poverty and results in better health and upward economic mobility.”
Though certainly not universal, “Oakland’s project is significant because it is one of the largest efforts in the U.S. so far, targeting up to 600 families,” notes CBS. It is different in another unique and important way … “it is the first program to limit participation strictly to Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.”
You read that right.
But have no fear of excluding poor whites. The network immediately provided, “The reason: White households in Oakland on average make about three times as much annually than black households, according to the Oakland Equity Index.”
Even if accurate, how does this “on average” group statistic justify denying help to someone in poverty who is white?
“It’s also,” CBS News informs, “a nod to the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the political movement that was founded in Oakland in the 1960s.”
You see, the Black Panthers advocated for a basic guaranteed income or universal basic income. And so, since black people in a group with black in the name pushed the idea, it only logically follows that whites should be denied this assistance. Or, uh, hmm, er.
Oakland’s program is different in yet one more way: It is privately funded.
So, what’s the big deal?
Sure, people can privately send money to whomever they want, with whatever racial criteria they design. But, private folks may not create government-run programs that are racist even if they fund every penny of the cost.
This isn’t a pilot program for “guaranteed income” but for a racist America.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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