Bloomberg just said, “The only way to solve the poverty problem is to give a good education.”
That’s false. The most educated demographic of people in this country are African-American women. [1]
On average Black women in this country make 39% less than white men and 21% less than white women.
That’s not because of poor education. It’s because of systemic racism. Kids of color in this country are yes, less likely to have access to a good education. [2]
They are also less likely to be taken seriously by their white teachers and are less likely to be offered the networks of their white professors - the same networks they need to build robust careers where they are paid equitably and equally. [3]
In addition, a few years back, MIT released a report which found that people living in poverty on average need at least 20 years to ascend into the “middle-class.” [4]
Thats 20 years without hardly anything going wrong. 20 years is a long time when the life expectancy between rich and poor neighborhoods can be as big as a 30 year difference. [5]
If a Black, Brown, or Indigenous child gets a good education and is being raised in a home where their parents of color are living in poverty because they are not paid equal to their white counterparts... [6]
or because they can’t even obtain gainful employment because of their race and the way their race intersects with their other identities - that child who becomes a young adult and then an adult is going to still struggle with poverty. [7]
Education can be a pathway but it’s not “the” answer to solving the poverty epidemic. Education is just one piece. [8]
there’s no such thing as a good education that does not account for the ways systemic racism diminishes what we teach, how we teach it, and how we measure success.
But I wouldn’t expect Bloomberg to know that. He doesn’t have to. [9]
#DemocraticDebate
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