Equality and Equity: Are class and race based perspectives are mutually exclusive? Saagar's twitter feed gets me thinking and I want to hear from y'all.
Hi All,
Recently I got a twitter account so I could follow what Saagar and Krystal were sharing offline, because I can't get enough. My personal beliefs fall mostly in line with Krystal, with some disagreements here and there, but I always find it valuable to see what Saagar is following and what he deems important. Like on the daily Rising, sometimes I agree with what Saagar has to share and sometimes I disagree, but generally I do really appreciate being able to hear from him regularly to challenge myself.
This tweet that Saagar re-tweeted just caught my attention tonight, and I wanted to discuss. The main component of this being a video that Kamala posted regarding her apparent view on equity and equality. From my perspective, this video is trying to portray that not everyone is on equal footing from the start, and we must ensure that there is equal opportunity for all to succeed by uplifting everyone to some type of basic standard. Additionally, that it is necessary for everyone to realize where they came from relative to others and how that impacts success. Creating some type of basic standard would mean, we as a country, accomplishing a huge variety of things:
- Ensuring that no one is discriminated against based on race when looking for a job
- Ensuring that no communities are lacking in public resources that make it more difficult for someone to get a good paying job
- Making sure that everyone is paid equally for the same work
- Ensuring some type of minimum wage to ensure that all people who work a full time job are not below poverty line
- Actually creating lots of good paying jobs and not letting corporations sell us out
The list could go on and on, and there's lots sub-points to each of these listed that would need to be accomplished to ever reach that goal. To me though, it boils down to making sure that everyone in America is able to live the same life that I want to live. Meaning everyone has the opportunity to get a job which has benefits/basic level of compensation that can support themselves, and ultimately allows everyone the freedom to pursue happiness (families, hobbies, etc etc).
The comments of this tweet, to me, were hyperbolic to say the least. Mentions of communism, comparisons stating that if this was true then everyone should be a celebrity or professional athlete, or that it's a childish worldview. I was also unaware that this is some type of endorsement of Kendi's anti-racism theory, I do not follow this so I'm unsure of exactly what that means. In any case, I do not take this to that extreme, I see this as an acknowledgement that some groups are less fortunate or have fewer opportunities. Leading to the need for everyone to come together and make sure we are all on equal footing to start. I have the view that in the richest country in the world, everyone's livelihoods should not be left up to "fortune" and the ability to work a well paying job should be readily accessible.
Getting to the point of a discussion my question is this: Is the divisiveness of equality and equity/Critical race theory just because it is presented through a racial lens, or perceived by someone in that way because of their exposure? I think Saagar has said previously that his main problem is when things are seen in terms of race and not class, so if this were framed as a universal problem of class would the issue be totally solved? I feel like you'd still have people making the same hyperbolic statements. My main issue with that framing is that it is undeniable that communities of color have greater probability of encountering some type of economic barrier than majority white communities. Its my view that we can acknowledge that certain communities have been oppressed for longer periods, but the issues we face today are not strictly in one racial category or another. I'd like thoughts from other perspectives, and would love to hear some more conservative points of view as the only one I usually get is Saagar's or my grandparent's.
PS: I left out the hypocritical aspect of this coming from established Dems, in that they have been complicit in sending jobs overseas for cheap labor. Additionally, their desire to place things in terms of just race rather than talking about general economic disparities. The final icing being Kamala gets blown in whatever direction the money goes and I have no idea if this is her true belief.
Posted Nov 2, 2020, 2:10 AM UTC
My issue when people who dismiss the notion of "equality and equity" is that they either rarely experience inequality or they simply have a lack of vision on the problems others from different backgrounds face.
I come from a major city run by Hispanics (San Antonio). Most the municipalities, businesses and institutions are run by Hispanics. Safe to say, it's about as much of a minority haven as you can get for its sheer size. So a person like myself who was a smart Hispanic kid in a single-parent home got just as far as a white friend of mine did from the same area, smart too and with a family that didn't make money. In our case, we both had the same opportunities even though we come from different racial backgrounds because we were in the same class level as each other.
Now if that was the case for every city in the US, then yes, lets work out that class problem. But it's not. I didn't have to worry about the cops because the cops look like me. I didn't have to wonder if a place I applied for was put off or had concerns over m performance simply because of my last name.
I knew that whether it was at school or work, I wasn't treated any differently based on out of my control. So like I said earlier, if we can get everywhere in the US like that, then yes, let's focus on class.