Did You Know?
When we believe that people of color need to be taught to achieve a standard that is superior to their race, we believe they are less than fully human – children who need instruction on how to act. To expect people of color to assimilate to the standard of White people is a racist expectation. Policies, rather, should be geared toward reducing racial inequities and creating equal opportunities. (Kendi, Ibram X, How to be an Antiracist, One World Publishing, NY, 2019, Chapter 2)
Consider the following policies...
The Social Security Act (SSA) was passed by Congress in 1935. At that time, the SSA excluded agricultural or domestic sectors from receiving benefits. In the 1930 census, upon which the Social Security act was based, about 65 percent of gainfully employed African Americans worked in the agricultural or domestic sectors of the economy. It was also the case that 27 percent of the white workforce was likewise excluded from coverage.* Regardless of whether or not race was a factor in this decision, those employed in the agricultural or domestic sectors were given an unequal opportunity to build accumulated savings for themselves or their families. (*DeWitt, L., The Decision to Exclude Agricultural and Domestic Workers from the 1935 Social Security Act, Social Security Bulletin, Vol.70, No.4, 2010.)
When Federal Housing Administration was established in 1934, its policy was to refuse to insure mortgages in and near African-American neighborhoods — a policy that has come to be known as "redlining." At the same time, the FHA was subsidizing builders who were mass-producing entire subdivisions for whites — with the requirement that none of the homes be sold to African-Americans. This policy was mitigated by the Fair Housing Act in 1968. (Rothstein, Richard, The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Liveright Publishing Corp, 368 pages, 2017)