Paul Krugman- Race, Class and Neglect

[zentrum]

16. What the hell?

Forty years ago, you still couldn't make this argument. Social Security specifically omitted all the jobs that tended to be filled by Black people. Redlining and segregation in Federally subsidized housing has been going on for decades in Baltimore and elsewhere. Where were all the Yale "legacies" for Black kids? Where was the livable minimum wage? Where was the support/equal opportunity for urban schools after White flight 4 decades ago?

Black families have rarely been able to pass along "middle class wealth" and home ownership to their children, for generations.

I usually agree with Krugman, but have no idea what he means by this magical time four decades ago when Black poverty was just a question of individual values and not an issue of the same systemic racism we've had for almost 500 fucking years.