Eighty-one plans and counting: Elizabeth Warren addresses head-on structural racism in the American economy
“Over a century, black farmers were stripped of 80% of their farmland, amounting to millions of acres and hundreds of billions of dollars in lost wealth” (from ‘Addressing discrimination and ensuring equity for farmers of color’).
Policy matters. Policies that dismantle structural racism in the American economy matter. As we find ourselves at a national tipping point in this country with calls for racial justice, I spent the weekend reading through some of Elizabeth Warren’s proposals for a more equitable economy. Warren didn’t have just one plan to achieve equity but weaved equity throughout all of her eighty-one plans. The general theme I took away was how we as a nation have hindered black success and what we can do to rectify this. Regarding the quote above, black farmers even to the present day are disproportionately denied participation in aid and relief programs that their white counterparts benefit from.
In her plan ‘Valuing the work of women of color,’ Warren brings up the pay gap and an American cycle whereby systems lock people into lower wages. Workers should have the ability to unionize in order to raise wages and petition for standards of treatment and racial justice. Warren argues for denial of federal contracts when the pay gap is perpetuated or limits are placed on worker rights. Warren also proposes a greater number of pathways, including more paid fellowships, for people of color to enter leadership positions inside and outside of government.
The Small Business Equity Fund (SBEF) is Warren’s idea to set aside $7 billion in grant money for entrepreneurs of color to start a business. Whereas starting a business requires existing capital and the ability to attract outside credit, a “[b]lack-owned business only gets 3% of what a similar white-owned business receives in outside investment.” Further, 86% percent of venture capitalists are white, and studies have shown that they are more likely to invest in entrepreneurs of similar race and gender to themselves. The SBEF is not a loan so as to not take money out of growing businesses. If businesses do however seek adjunct loans, Warren’s consumer watchdog, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), will enforce more equitable lending practices as well.
Moreover, families most commonly file for bankruptcy for three reasons – unexpected job loss, unexpected illness and medical bills, and unexpected change in the family unit; yet, “families of color are far more likely to be abused by predatory lenders” and if they file for bankruptcy are more likely to be rejected (from ‘Fixing our bankruptcy system to give people a second chance’). In the cases that they are able to file for bankruptcy, families of color are often steered towards filing for the costlier Chapter 13 bankruptcy, rather than Chapter 7, which can put them down a tortuous financial path and leave them worse off financially. Some of the changes Warren calls for include more extensive oversight of predatory lending and single-entry bankruptcy steering.
We must speak to our nation’s history of constructing barriers to black success (sanctioned discrimination, absence of protections) and how to deconstruct structural racism by taking apart its pieces, one by one. Warren does this in her plans while at the same time laying down a new foundation for the American economy, rooted in the pillars of student debt cancellation, universal child care, and affordable housing.
Draft Warren for VP series