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A “guaranteed income” program launched by the City of Oakland is under scrutiny for granting $500 to minority families earning under $59,000 – but giving nothing to poor white families.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf earlier this week announced the program, which would give families of color with at least one child and earning less than $59,000 a year a monthly no-strings-attached check of $500, taken out of a fund provided by private philanthropists.
“We have designed this demonstration project to add to the body of evidence, and to begin this relentless campaign to adopt a guaranteed income federally,” Schaaf told the Associated Press.
City officials reportedly opted not to include white people in the payouts because data from an Oakland Equity Indicators Report claimed African Americans earned three times less than their white counterparts.
The report based on 2016 median income claims white families earn on average $110,000 a year, with Asian families earning a yearly average of $76,000. Latino families are shown to earn $65,000 a year, and black families reportedly earn the least with only $37,500.
The report, however, does not take into account the number of single-parent households driving down the median incomes of the various races.
The AP notes the Universal Basic Income payments pay homage to the Marxist Black Panther movement founded in Oakland.
“Guaranteed income has been a goal of the Black Panther platform since its founding,” a CEO of the groups involved in the program told the AP . “Direct investment in the community in response to systemic injustices isn’t new.”
Many people on Reddit regarded the program as anti-white, with at least one person calling it “pure racism,” according to the Daily Mail.
‘Is this even legal? Can a city government legally have a program that’s only for certain races?’
Another explained the program failed to understand the changing demographics of the city.
‘The high income earners in Oakland are mostly young transplants that did not grow up in Oakland. They should have done research on upward social mobility in Oakland and restricted based upon that. But I guess that’s too much work.’
Another wrote: ‘Poor is poor. Being poor and white sucks, you may not get locked up for trivial shit like our dark skinned brothers and sisters but it’s no secret that White Privilege always has and always will require a certain shade of green to your name.’
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