For too long, Black and brown people have been kept out of the promise of our democracy. If we are serious about building a just, multiracial democracy, we must restore the VRA and expand opportunities for participation in our democracy.
The Supreme Court is deciding cases that involve critical decisions affecting our everyday lives while using a procedure that provides little to no transparency to the public.
Why the Court's decision to limit the EPA's power to regulate water access is yet another case of eroding the power of the other branches of government at the expense of Black and brown people.
Why a return to a debt-free system of public universities and colleges would help revive the promise of affordable higher education regardless of one’s family income.
“It’s a lot of debt out there. But that debt and the burden of that debt is not necessarily being felt equally. It’s extremely difficult for borrowers of color in particular."
I never cease to be amazed by how much power exists when Black women come together to reflect on where we’ve been, analyze where we are, and strategize on where we need to go.
"Unions are what sent my cousins to college, they're what helped us go on vacation, they're what made sure that when there were hard times my family still had jobs."
“We think of education funding, particularly at the state level, as a spending issue, but it’s myopic,” said Mark Huelsman, a senior policy analyst at Demos, a left-leaning think tank. “There are all kinds of second order effects to investing in education — homeownership or wealth building is certainly one of them. If you don’t spend the money on students now and that means that they’re less likely to go to college or they’re more likely to take on debt, that is going to impact their future economic activity.” [...]
Black students are far more likely to take on debt for a degree than white students, and young black households have more student debt despite fewer educational opportunities and a more uncertain payoff in the job market.
Without the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, lenders preying on communities of color would continue to pull in windfall gains, while widening the racial wealth gap and undermining the precarious financial stability of vulnerable households.