Boost the economy by fighting racism
Forget socialism or fascism. Nevermind repealing Obamacare or passing Medicare for all. Acknowledging the legacy of slavery, the persistence of racismand the reality of privilege will do more to boost the country than almost anything else.
After years of writing this column, I amno longer surprised by the outpouring of vitriol when I point out that bias prevents the United States fromreaching its full potential. Judging people by their appearance holds back some of our nation’s most talented citizens.
Yet suggesting that someone with white skin and amiddle- or upper-class upbringing may have some advantages over a Black person growing up in poverty always triggers bigoted and ignorant comments. Certain Americans do not want us to talk about racism.
President Donald Trump is one of those people, recently forcing CEOs at America’s largest companies to choose between creating equitable workplaces or potentially losing government contracts and falling under federal investigation.
Trump signed an executive order on Sept. 22 banning federal agencies and their contractors from conducting routine antiracism training. The order’s haughty tone presumes to promote equity but surreptitiously perpetuates discrimination.
The order is one of the ugliest, covert boosts to white supremacy produced by a federal official in decades. Trump demonstrates his ignorance of every study about how racismis propagated and perpetuated by a rigged meritocratic system that punish es people of color.
The order bans experts from explaining how growing up in an all-white environment may leave a person ignorant about the realities faced by Blacks and other minorities. The Greater Houston Partnership’s recent One Houston Together webinar on fighting bias would have violated Trump’s order.
The White House is taking aim at every corner of U.S. commerce, extending it to every company that does business with every company that does business with the government. The Department of Labor has set up a hotline for employees to report violations.
Federal employees who violate the order will face discipline, while companies could lose their con
tracts.
In addition, the Department of Labor has launched investigations into Microsoft, Wells Fargo and other government contractors that have pledged to hiremore Black people. The Trump administration says any company that promises to hiremore minorities is likely discriminating against whites.
Republican presidents have used the Labor Department to attack equity efforts going back to the Reagan administration. When a GOP leader takes over, the concern is no longer whether a company hired enough minorities, but whether white people lost their privileged place at the head of the line.
To understand the impact, I called Gary Cunningham, the CEO of Prosperity Now, an organization that helps hard-working people boost their financial security. He is also the co-author of a new paper from Yale and Drexel universities called “Big Ideas for Small Business,” examining the history and future of government small business programs.
“Are we going to go back to Jim Crow?” Cunningham asked, referring to the oppressive laws that codified white supremacy in the 20th century. “When people have an understanding of their own biases, they create better teams and better outcomes. That is a fact.”
African Americans and Hispanics each make up 12 percent of the population but own only 2 percent of the small businesses, Cunningham’s paper shows. Whites have consistently held seven times more personal wealth than nonwhites since 1963, according to Census data analyzed by the Urban Institute.
Racismthat has suppressed millions of talented people over the last 20 years has cost the U.S. economy $16 trillion in opportunity, according to a study by Citigroup. Closing the gap now would add $5 trillion to gross domestic product.
Here’s the rub: You either accept that racial bias is holding people back in America, or by default, you believe there is something inherently deficient with non-white people so that they cannot catch up.
The first explanation is correct; the second racist. Either way, we need more anti-racism education, not less.
Cunningham applauded companies like JP Morgan Chase for pledging $30 billion and Citigroup for committing $1 billion to promote racial equity. With COVID-19 bankrupting 40 percent of Black-owned businesses, that aid is more important than ever.
Some will see reverse discrimination. But if we use the foot race metaphor, the government gave whites amile-long headstart for nearly 200 years until the early 1970s and has done very little to make up for the cheating. We must adjust the course.
Every day we allow our inherent biases to hold someone back; we are hurting ourselves and our society by suppressing potential talent. Addressing past injustices will not only heal our community, it will make us wealthier too.