Buffoon of the Week Staff
The city of Oakland has specifically excluded low-income white families from an income lottery program.
Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf announced a privately-funded universal basic income lottery that will provide 600 families of color with low-incomes an unconditional $500 per month for 18 months.
But there’s a catch– the program excludes poor white families. Specifically.
The rationale behind this facially discriminatory policy has to do with the Oakland Equity Index. The report claims that white families earn close to 3 times the median amount of African-American households.
According to the Mayor’s office, the “Oakland Resilient Families”, is “100% funded through philanthropic donations. Anchored by Blue Meridian Partners’ Place Matters portfolio, the program’s aim is to improve economic and social mobility through investments.
The families that qualify for the benefit can spend the funds without restriction.
Republican attorney Harmeet Dhillon immediately pointed out the obvious:
Our Take…
How is it that it is the year 2021 and we are still pushing government policies based on skin color? This is government action that is facially discriminatory. A white family that is eligible for this program should immediately sue the City of Oakland.
Perhaps Oakland should put as much effort in law enforcement as it did in acting racist. Violent and property crimes in Oakland are the highest in the state, having increased by over one-third last year. Meanwhile, the Oakland City Council unanimously voted in July 2020 chose to “defund the police” by slashing the department’s budget by 50% over the next two years. Oakland is a profile in failure.
At the end of the day, poor is poor. Poverty cares not what color you are. The only color that should matter is green.
That we have to further divide people and breed further resentment with ignorant policies like this does not bode well for our nation.
