"We must commence a Third Reconstruction."
A few weeks ago, Sebastian and I examined the racial disparity in terms of access to healthcare in the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, I examine not just the racial disparity in healthcare access, but the racial disparity in almost every facet of American society.
In addition to my examination, I want to express my dissatisfaction. My dissatisfaction in how the United States is addressing racial problems. My dissatisfaction in how minorities are being treated. My dissatisfaction in how there is still inequality in a country that boasts the axiom - “all men are created equal.”
I am unsatisfied that black Americans have a net worth ten times less than that of white Americans. I am unsatisfied that 45% of poor black kids live in neighborhoods with concentrated poverty compared with 12% of poor white kids. I am unsatisfied that black communities that do not have the economic resources can not send their kids to good schools, have access to good internet, and have access to good healthcare or good transportation.
The argument against this is that there will always be poor people and they must lift themselves out of the abyss of poverty. If there are always poor people in America, why do black and Hispanic people make up a large portion of them? How can these people get out of their situation if the legal and economic institutions lay out potholes and walls that prevent them from individually escaping the harsh road of subjugation?
This country has been led by men and women who held onto the axiom that lies on the parchment of the Declaration of Independence. I am not here to undermine what they have done, what they have sacrificed, and what they have offered. But, if they were here today, they would see that our work is unfinished, our job is incomplete, and our mission is unfulfilled.
Racism, inequality, and discrimination are still the American pestilence. It is infecting every square inch of this nation and spreading to every town, every city, and every state. We have seen the harsh symptoms in the previous year.
What this nation needs is not complacency, hesitancy, or ignorance of the facts at hand. Inequality is there and we must fight it. The energy, the spirit, and the devotion which has been harnessed by our abolitionist and anti-segregationist ancestors shall light up our generation and the nation who serves us.
Therefore, I say that we must commence a Third Reconstruction, which will finish the work that the previous two Reconstruction plans have failed to accomplish. A massive economic investment which will provide high speed internet, green infrastructure, universal healthcare, free transportation, and free education, in addition to robust public schools headed by a national education administration, all provided by an ultra-wealth tax as well as other taxes. An investment in Black, Hispanic, Muslim, Asian, and poor White communities. The cost and burden will be enormous, but we will pay any price and we will bear any burden until the mission for equality succeeds.
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