You NEED to Get Comfortable with Equity
Many US citizens romanticize equality but not many embrace equity as a form of justice. What could embracing equity mean for all of us?
Many people say that they agree with equality for all. This includes many on the left. They will point to universal programs like Single-Payer Healthcare for all (aka Medicare For All) or even housing for all which comes with the belief that housing is a human right. I agree with all of this and it’s a virtuous pursuit to make our nation and world better. But when it comes to EQUITY, many seem to fall short.
What is equity? According to Merriam-Webster dictionary it means justice according to natural law or right specifically : freedom from bias or favoritism.
This sounds a lot like equality but there’s a difference. Not all things in this universe or within humanity/society are equal or have the same circumstance or treatment. That being said, there’s a more clear explanation of the equity vs equality definitions. In Marinhhs.org it gives the explanation: Equality means each individual or group of people is given the same resources or opportunities. Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.
With that explanation out of the way, why isn’t there more focus on EQUITY in the US, especially on the left? “ Equity recognizes that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.” By this very definition, then when it comes to the plight of black people in the United States, namely American Descendants of Slaves or “Freedmen”; mere equality wouldn’t truly make the nation equal for all. Even with the onset of universal programs, disparities would still exist if the inherent inequities are still in place. When people say “a rising tide lifts all boats”, they don’t think about the boats that are at the bottom of the ocean floor. Special circumstances need to take place in order for those boats to be at the same level of other boats. Otherwise, the rising tide will ONLY affect the boats on the surface in a positive way.
If you’re white or white passing (belonging to another ethnic group outside of European but have the appearance of being European), then you can guess where I’m going with this. For many of us, in order to ‘lift the boat to the surface’, the special circumstances or a “crane” as it were, to help us would be… REPARATIONS. The root word in reparations is “repair”. This means a giving of equity to the damaged party. Because we were damaged in a special case then it means that a special case is needed in order to bring us to equal footing with the rest of the nation. I could go into the racial disparities of black wealth, healthcare outcomes, education disparities, etc. But you are more than capable to look that up on your own.
I think what we should think about is how this can benefit not only us but the people who wouldn’t receive it. It would indirectly help the nation as well from an economic perspective. Now from a Marxist angle, this would mean helping workers who are disproportionately at a disadvantage. People on the left, and more specifically white leftists, should look at the disparities from a lens of justice and fairness. If you truly have solidarity, then that means standing with us even if it doesn’t affect you personally. Reparations will not be the end-all-be-all for black workers… In reality, reparations will be a beginning. It will be a genesis for real equality and justice in a nation that started off with inequality. A true revolution to go back to the equal and equitable system that our Indigenous siblings established on Turtle Island centuries ago.
If you find yourself feeling uncomfortable with in this conversation, it’s best to ask yourself ‘why?’: What feelings do I have that I don’t want a repairing to take place with a group that has ancestors who have worked for free for hundreds of years but have never been paid back for it? Do you feel it’s ‘unjust’ for us to receive reparations and why? By that same question: Was it unfair for Japanese Americans to receive reparations? What about former enslavers who held our ancestors captive? Was it unjust they received reparations? Because they did. Jews received reparations after the Holocaust and that is seen as just. Sit with that and ruminate on it for a while.
While it’s good to have universal programs, it’s also good to fight for equitable programs that would bring real equality to the fore for us who are disenfranchised. This was just some thoughts I had in my head but what do you think? In the changing this nation to one that is ran democratically by the workers instead of corporations, do you think reparations is possible once we achieve that? Do you think it IS doable?