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“Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe,” said Frederick Douglass in a speech he gave in 1886, on the 24th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. His birthday was commemorated on Sunday, and his words about derailing racial inequality should be commemorated at this moment, when the nation faces a decision that can help level the playing field for Black Americans.
The right to a living wage is before Congress now—in the form of the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The current minimum wage—$7.25 an hour—is far short of a living wage. Because Black workers make up a disproportionate share of workers who are severely underpaid, a minimum wage increase would powerfully benefit these workers and their families and communities.
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