Dear Dean Magazine: September 2023

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F E A T U R E D C O N T R I B U T O R Joshua Doss (Vermillion, South Dakota) THE ECONOMIC INEFFICIENCY OF RACISM Anywhere outside of the echo chambers and epistemic bubbles of white nationalism, the moral and ethical arguments against racism are discussed. Even the most willfully ignorant American would be lying if she pretended to have never encountered the notion. And after asking her why we should deconstruct racist systems that have plagued this country since its conception, she may shrug her shoulders and say something like “racism hurts people of color and that's bad”-- assuming she acknowledges these structures still exist at all. And if you received this response from her, Betty Lou Sue, sipping on her Mountain Dew at a gas station in Boone County, Arkansas, you may consider it a win. Hell, a person in the colloquially-dubbed most “racist county in America” acknowledging racism feels like 30 steps in the right direction. But until we start talking about the titanic economic inefficiencies of racism, we run the risk of leaving low vote-propensity “fiscal conservatives” on the board. That's right, Betty Lou Sue, racism hurts you too. Everywhere we look in the mess of our modern day economic problems, we can see evidence of racism not delivering on its promises to white America. For example, the financial crash of 2008 created a housing market crisis that has never fully returned to normal. In the story of this egregious economic failure we make certain to talk about the snake-oil-selling predatory lenders that created tricky subprime mortgages designed to enrich the lender and purposely fail the borrowers. But what we rarely talk about is how we allowed these predatory lenders to workshop this style of lending in Black and Brown communities for years before taking their show on tour. Blinded by racism, white Americans ignored the cries of Black policymakers’ disdain with a mortgage market rife with predatorily adjustable interest rates, teaser rates, and tricky underwriting practices. The result was a fleet of well-trained predatory lenders unleashing their new-found trick on the rest of white America. A housing crash that resulted in $19 trillion in loss of American household wealth, 8 million jobs obliterated, lost pensions and savings, and financial institutions that had to be bailed out by you, the American taxpayer. Public policy experts like Heather DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER <strong>2023</strong> | p.6
F E A T U R E D : J O S H U A D O S S Mcghee have been quoted saying “we would not have not have had a financial crisis if it weren't for racism”, and she's right. Racism breeds policy blind spots and economicmalpractice that hurt white people too. When we tell the story of debt-burdened white Americans struggling to pay back their college loans or overwhelmed white parents looking to save for their child's college fund, we're always certain to mention the inflated costs of college. What we often fail to mention is how it got this way. In the 1950’s, 60’s, and 70’s, millions of families sent their kids to college debt free through public investment. Not only did folks leave universities without debt, this well-educated workforce became the strongest middle class the world had ever seen. Economists have found for every tax dollar spent on free college under the G.I. bill, the American economy saw a $7 return on investment . This meant an economy where a bartender and a maid had access to homeownership, retirement accounts, vacations, weekends, and economic mobility. So, what happened? Fueled by the racist reactions to the federal government’s order for states to racially integrate their colleges, white voters began supporting policies that effectively cut public funding to keep Black students, who were disproportionately poor, from clearing the financial requirements to attend their universities. The result was a tripling of college tuition and a $1.77 trillion tax payer debt–a burden shared by white families all across America. Racism breeds sloppy governance that hurts white people too. From racially-biased and inflated criminal justice systems that require American taxpayers $300 billion a year, to discriminatory lending practices restricting Black entrepreneurs from investing back into the American economy white people share, racism frequently finds a way to financially burden the very people it makes promises to promote. Any economic analysis worth its salt will tell you: the playbook of fiscal conservatism should begin with ending systemic racism in America. So, before you and Betty Lou Sue share a celebratory Mountain Dew, make sure she knows that people of color are not the only ones degraded by racism. Joshua Doss is a Political Research and Communications consultant from Chicago. He specializes in economic policy communications and has worked in politics at the state and federal level as a polling/message development strategist. Using social media as a direct and unfiltered way to connect with voters, Joshua has amassed well over 15 million views and 140k subscribers to his platform. click DEAR DEAN MAGAZINE | SEPTEMBER <strong>2023</strong> | p.7
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