Rewriting the Story on Unemployment

The enormity of this crisis has revealed the ugly underpinnings of our public assistance system — both in terms of how we think about people who are struggling financially and also about the systems designed to help those people.

Unemployment figures in the U.S. are at their highest since the Great Depression—nearly 40 million people have filed for unemployment since the pandemic began. (That’s greater than the combined population of 21 states, according to Forbes.)

In this episode, we talk about why we have a system that is so adversarial to people in dire economic straits and how this crisis also presents an opportunity for rethinking and redesigning these systems for the coming era.

Namely, what can we do from here on out to shape U.S policy and politics for decades to come in terms of how we treat and perceive the poor?

We also talk about two recent law enforcement shootings of innocent men and one “Karen, Please” incident in the news that have further cemented the fact that to be African American in this country means to have your every move in your everyday life be regarded as a potential threat to white existence.

REFERENCES:

The New York Times front page // Sunday, May 24, 2020 – An Incalculable Loss https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/24/us/us-coronavirus-deaths-100000.html

The Washington Post // Stephanie McCrummen – ‘This feels great’: A preview from Georgia about how America might reemerge from the coronavirus https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/17/coronavirus-reopening-shopping-mall-georgia/?arc404=true

PBS Newshour clip – How missed rent payments spark a ‘cascade’ of financial hardship https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvyazdooRgA

PBS Newshour clip – The true story behind the ‘welfare queen’ stereotype https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr_8B1IzFFY

The Nation // James Baldwin – Notes on the House of Bondage https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/notes-house-bondage/

Fox News clip – McConnell slams Dems for trying to ‘incentivize’ unemployment in new bill https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8JHzE-sR3A

The New York Times // Nikole Hannah Jones – 1619 Project https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html

NPR // Barbara Sprunt – Biden And Sanders Announce Task Forces To Find Party Unity Over Policy https://www.npr.org/2020/05/13/855203151/biden-and-sanders-announce-task-forces-to-find-party-unity-over-policy