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Black Women
Best
Few have been harmed more by the COVID-19 crisis than
Black women, who remain unemployed at far
higher levels than white men and women eight
months into the pandemic. Unfortunately, that mirrors history: As
ProPublica’s Ava Kofman and Hannah Fresques reported
recently, Black workers have been more likely to be unemployed and
less likely to receive unemployment
benefits today and in past recessions.
In a new issue brief co-published by
Roosevelt and Groundwork Collaborative, Kendra Bozarth, Grace Western,
and Janelle Jones propose a policy framework that would both rectify
those inequities and strengthen the economy for all: “Black women
best.” Expanding on a phrase and concept coined by Jones, “Black women
best” means that if Black women can thrive as the most discriminated
against and exploited group in the US, then everyone can. And for
Black women to thrive, we need policies that center their priorities,
boost short-term recovery, and build more equitable institutions—from
single-payer health care to automatic stabilizers tied to Black
unemployment rates. Read
on.
- Another angle: “The
unfortunate thing is that when our policymakers are proposing policies
to deal with an economic and cyclical downturn, their approach is
always a colorblind one, even under Obama,” economist Michelle
Holder tells
Vox. “Those calling for the scaling back, for the
elimination of unemployment insurance, are missing the reality, which
is in this country, the burden of the recession is not equally
distributed.”
A President Could Cancel
Student Debt
On Thursday, Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced a
resolution outlining how a president could use
executive authority to cancel up to $50,000 in student debt for
millions of Americans. That resolution builds
on Roosevelt’s Student Debt Forgiveness
Options: Implications for Policy and Racial Equity, which finds
that “debt forgiveness at levels from $10,000 up to $50,000 would have
broad reach” and “profound impacts for the asset security of Black
households overall, who would experience substantial relative wealth
gains.” Learn
more.
 Join the
Conversation
Next week, join Roosevelt experts for two
webinars spotlighting the politics, policies, and possibilities of
this moment and beyond.
The
Wealth Tax: Good Policy, Good Politics
- Tuesday,
September 22, 2020, 1:00pm
- Featuring Data for Progress Co-Founder & Executive Director
Sean McElwee and Roosevelt Forward Managing Director of Corporate
Power Bharat Ramamurti
What
Will It Take to Build an Inclusive Economy in the COVID-19
Era?
- Wednesday, September 23, 2020, 3:00pm
- Featuring Roosevelt Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz, Roosevelt
President & CEO Felicia Wong, and Roosevelt Fellow Darrick
Hamilton
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