Why Should You Care?
For over 400 years, average American’s allowed “the land of the free” to be built on and sustained by the enslavement and forced labor of Black and brown peoples. In a sense, America was built upon their backs.
Yet, instead of honoring these people for their contributions and attempting to repay them for their unjust sacrifices, they are instead still subjected to routine and overt discrimination.
When Black and Latinx students start school, they are at an extreme disadvantage compared to their white peers. Recent research from The Century Foundation found that Black students are routinely segregated to poor-performing schools in low-income areas. These districts are run on shoestring budgets, and administrators are unable to attract and retain high-quality educators.
The subpar quality of their education is why only 29% of Black and 16% of Latinx adults move on to earn their bachelor’s degree — compared to 56% of white adults. And once these students leave school, their discrimination only worsens.
According to the ACLU, workers of color are typically restricted to low-paying jobs completing unskilled labor. On average, Black households earn up to 20x less, and Latinx 18x less than white households.
Black and Latinx people are also constantly brutalized by the criminal justice system. It is common knowledge that the Nixon-era War on Drugs routinely incarcerated Black and Latinx people in for-profit prisons for inflated mandatory minimum sentences. Today, more Black people remain incarcerated than were ever enslaved (ACLU).
We owe it to our Black and brown neighbors more than ever to end the cycle of racial discrimination and dismantle the systems built upon white supremacy that govern our nation.
Our Stance
We believe that all people, regardless of their race or complexion, deserve to live full and happy lives free from fear and constant discrimination.
Every institution in the United States was built upon the idea of inherent white superiority. Now, it is time to eliminate this broad and overt racism from our culture. We will continue to fight for reform until all systems that benefit white people at the expense of their Black and brown peers are dismantled.
What Can We Do?
- Fight to end racial discrimination in ALL institutions (education, housing, finance, healthcare, etc.)
- Defend Affirmative Action
- Reinvest in Black and Latinx communities
- Promote and elevate Black and brown leaders
- Expand affordable housing access
- Advocate for major criminal justice reform
- Demolish the “school to prison pipeline”
- End the War on Drugs
- Stop the mass incarceration of Black and brown people in for-profit prisons.