The Guardian
Biden can repay black Americans by canceling our student debt
Anything other than total forgiveness will only increase the inequalities to which the president has personally contributed in his career. On average, black students graduate with $ 52,726 in debt, compared to $ 28,006 for white graduates. Photo: Seth Wenig / AP, President Biden, recently pledged to close the wealth gap between black and white Americans and to resolve the student debt crisis. While some applaud him for these measures – in particular his plan to forgive $ 10,000 in student loans – there are many reasons why his actions are terribly inadequate. Biden owes us much more than the fragmented proposals he presented. According to the White House Initiative on Excellence in Education for African Americans, black university graduates have an average of $ 52,726 in student debt, compared to $ 28,006 for white students. A $ 10,000 student loan forgiveness would eliminate a third of the average white borrower’s burden, while doing relatively little for the average black borrower – and this is important because white borrowers already find it easier to repay their loans. Anything other than total forgiveness will only increase existing disparities. White graduates, on average, owe 10% less than the amount they initially borrowed, black graduates, on the other hand, owe 6% more than what they initially borrowed, and black borrowers are more likely to never be able to repay your loans at any point in your lives. Offering student debt abolition to black students is the right thing to do, both morally and politically. Politically, because Biden owes his victory to black voters and must offer them something concrete in exchange for their loyalty. And morally, because he personally contributed to many of the inequalities that afflict black Americans today. Although Biden is not the only chief architect of American racism, he has contributed to institutional racism since his early days as a senator obsessed with Delaware’s bipartisanship. He opposed the desegregation of schools through federally regulated bus programs that would allow black students to attend white schools with better resources. He argued that there were other ways to desegregate, especially through housing, but opponents pointed out that he could simply support both ways. He also argued that it should be up to local municipalities to make the decision, using the same argument for local autonomy that conservatives used to oppose most desegregation plans. The data would later show that the bus was one of the most effective means of disaggregating schools, until it was reversed in the 1980s and 1990s. Schools immediately started to segregate again and have remained segregated ever since. Biden also proudly defended his role in creating the 1994 Crime Act and took the Democratic party even further towards a tough stance on crime. Referring to this victory, Biden said: “The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is now facing 60 new death sentences. That is what is in this account. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party has 70 penalties increased … The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is for 100,000 police officers. The liberal wing of the Democratic Party is for 125,000 new state prison cells. ”While the bill itself has not met its goal of radically increasing the number of incarcerated Americans, it has helped some state governments to do so, offering incentives to emulate the bill and funding to build the prisons needed to do so. Biden already had a history of harsh crime policies that disproportionately affected black Americans. In 1984, he worked with conservative Senator Strom Thormond – who has already run for president on a racial segregation platform – to pass the Comprehensive Control Act, which expanded police powers to legally steal those they suspected of selling drugs, sometimes keeping thousands of dollars in cash and property, despite not finding any drugs. Whether Biden’s intention or not, these laws, and those he helped to set the precedent for, disproportionately affected blacks. Biden also co-sponsored the bill that treated crack as 100 times worse than cocaine and created new mandatory minimum sentences for drug charges, clearly aimed at the image of the poor black crack user who looked more threatening than the mirage of docile, white, middle class cocaine user. His personal war on drugs was fought by both Republicans and Democrats, leading to the provision of the Higher Education Act of 1998 that permanently prevented many students with previous drug convictions from receiving financial aid. Although the majority of drug users are white, blacks make up 55% of all drug convictions. Biden’s bipartisanship also helped bring about the pension reform era, a euphemism for highlighting black social security beneficiaries and imposing strict new guidelines. In 1988, he wrote a column defending stricter welfare restrictions, paraphrasing conservative racist dog whistles, he said: “We are all very familiar with the stories of well-being mothers who drive luxury cars and lifestyles that reflect the rich and famous. Whether exaggerated or not, these stories underlie a widespread social concern that the social welfare system has broken down – that it only distributes welfare checks and does nothing to help the poor find productive jobs ”. In 1996, he fulfilled his wish with the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Reconciliation of Employment Opportunities Act, which brought a new set of welfare regulations, empowered states to create their own racist guidelines and limit federal spending on health. welfare. Although this program was considered a success for forcing more single mothers to work, these women generally did not earn more money than they had lost in benefits. While the number of people using social security has plummeted, studies have found that between 42% and 74% of those people remained in poverty after doing so. And there is evidence that deep poverty increased, those living on less than $ 2 per person per day, by 153% between 1996 and 2011. In the first decade of pension reform, the deep poverty rate for black children increased 4 , 9%, while falling for white children by about 2%. Today, 10.8% of black Americans live in extreme poverty, compared to 4.1% of white Americans. Whether Biden’s intention or not, these laws, and those for which he helped set the precedent, disproportionately affected blacks – and they were not the last of his policies to do so. In 2005, he supported a bill that removed bankruptcy protection from millions of students and exacerbated the already growing student debt bubble, essentially opting to protect creditors and creditors over students. Although black students are less likely to take out private student loans, they are four times more likely to have difficulty repaying these loans. It is worth mentioning that Joe Biden has received almost $ 2 million in campaign contributions from the lending industry since his time in the Senate. In spite of all this, blacks have shown themselves to support Biden every inch of their way towards the presidency. Biden’s campaign almost collapsed after his initial poor performance in the primaries, only to be resurrected by black southerners who scored points for him in South Carolina and carried him to Super Tuesday. In the general election, he was again saved by blacks. In crucial states like Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, blacks represented a disproportionate amount of the Democratic base who voted for Biden, and black activists led election campaigns and political mobilizations that not only ensured his victory, but protected the results afterwards. Black women, in particular, played a monumental role in his victory, with 91% of black women voting for Biden, maintaining their role as the Democratic Party’s most consistent base. Black women also led the organizations, such as the New Georgia Project led by Stacey Abrams and the Black Voters Matter Fund co-founded by LaTosha Brown, responsible for electoral participation in crucial states. Black women also have the largest student loan debt of any racial or ethnic group in the United States. The abolition of student debts would not solve the issues of systemic racism in the United States, but it would at least begin to solve some of the damage Joe Biden has done to his life. According to the liberal study institute Roosevelt, white families with young adults have 12 times the average wealth of similar black families – abolishing debt would reduce the gap to five times the amount of wealth. A drop in the ocean in the grand scheme, but a drop that can fundamentally change the lives of black people across the country. Akin Olla is a Nigerian-American political strategist and organizer