Emily Wangen
Professor Rocha
Introduction to the Politics of Race
17 July 2018
Essay Test #1
In When Affirmative Action Was White, political scientist and historian Ira Katznelson documents how government programs built the American middle class while leaving behind minorities. Some of these programs include Social Security and the Selective Service Readjustment Act, informally known as the GI Bill. At the end of the book, Katznelson proposes three programs designed to help minorities and others left behind by government programs; offering one time grants, tax credits, and implementing programs of subsidized mortgages, small business loans, and educational grants (Katznelson, 2005). Katznelson’s proposals aim to put those affected by discriminatory policies and their families on a level playing field with those who received the benefits offered by midcentury policies and their families. However, his proposals are underdeveloped and would be difficult and costly to implement.
Katznelson’s rationale as to why affirmative action is necessary for the United States is straightforward; by excluding minorities in these programs, many did not have the opportunity to access higher education or job training, afford to buy a house, have retirement savings, and more. These policies were discriminatory in nature due to Southern Democrats stronghold on legislation being passed at the time (Rocha, 2018). The legislation never outright discriminates against African Americans. Instead, these politicians used their power in the Legislature to protect the laws of Jim Crow in the South through policies that included certain provisions to the legislation that affected a majority of the black population. Because of these provisions, the economic disparity between races began to widen further and further. White people, who were the ones who were helped by the programs advanced further than those who were not. The racially-motivated provisions, as Katznelson put it, made Affirmative Action white (Katznelson, 2005).
His first proposed program in his book addresses provisions in the Social Security Act that excluded farm workers and domestic workers, an area in which Southern black labor was concentrated. This provision made 65 percent of black laborers ineligible to receive social security benefits. This lasted for the first 25 years of the program (Katznelson, 2005).
His proposal was to seek out people who did not receive Social Security benefits or their heirs and provide them with a one-time grant to be paid toward retirement funds.
Katznelson’s second proposed program addresses the exclusion of a minimum wage for many black laborers after the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The act originally required workers to be paid at least 25 cents per hour as well as implemented a ceiling of the amount of hours workers had to work. Like the Social Security Act, the Fair Labor Standards Act excluded agricultural workers and domestic workers from the protections outlined in the law.
To address this, Katznelson proposes tax credits to make up for the minimum wage that many black agriculture and domestic workers were not able to earn because of provisions in the law that overwhelmingly affected black workers.
Finally, Katznelson addresses the lack of benefits that black veterans were unable to receive under the GI Bill. The GI bill aimed to reintegrate 16 million veterans back to civilian life following World War II by allowing veterans to purchase homes, achieve some type of post-secondary education or training, start their own businesses, or find employment after returning from war. It was the largest social welfare program to ever be enacted in the U.S. with a reach so wide that 80 percent of men born in the 1920s were affected by it. While the GI Bill is known as “America’s first colorblind legislation”, certain provisions in the legislation widened the disparity between white and black Americans. Benefits included in the GI Bill were not centrally administered, meaning benefits were administered through local VA offices and through partnerships with private institutions. The issue with having this program administered through partnerships with private institutions was that these institutions discriminated against black veterans (Rocha, 2018).
An example of this discrimination involves home mortgages which were subsidized by the government under the GI Bill. Private banks would only lend to white veterans and not black veterans. This allowed white veterans to purchase homes with more ease and gave these families the ability to accrue more transferable wealth. This discrimination created more racial segregation as many black families had to stay in their homes in urban areas while many white families were able to move into suburban areas (Katznelson, 2005).
Another example of discrimination involves higher education. Following World War II many veterans were able to attend college through tuition payments and living stipends from the GI Bill that could be used at their institution of choice. However, many colleges and universities in the South were segregated, leaving black veterans with two options if they wanted to pursue higher education; attend a historically black college, or move to the North. These options came with their own caveats. Many historically black colleges did not have the resources for the influx of students and had to reject many qualified students and if students were accepted they were met with an environment that was not near the standard of other colleges (Katznelson, 2005). If these veterans in the South wanted to attend other institutions they would have to move to the North, which could be costly and would separate them from being with their families.
The GI Bill is said to have created the American Middle Class, but the discriminatory actions of the private institutional partners prevented many black veterans and their families to reap the same benefits. To address this discrimination Katznelson proposes Subsidized mortgages, small businesses loans, and educational grants to blacks who were unable to access these benefits through the GI Bill.
While his rationale behind his proposals seems sound, Katznelson fails to fully address how they would be implemented or how feasible the implementation would be. In his first proposal, Katznelson proposes to find those who were affected by the discriminatory policies or their heirs and offer them one-time grants. This would prove difficult as a large percentage of black workers were affected and require a workforce dedicated to identifying the people eligible for the tax credits. The rest of his proposals would also come at a large cost which begs the question of where the funding comes from to support these programs. Another piece Katznelson fails to address is which department would carry out the implementation of his proposals. This is important to the feasibility of his proposals as many departments have seen reduced funding in recent years. Finally, Katznelson leaves one last question unanswered. In this second and third proposal, he does not identify who would be eligible for the benefits. Would it be implemented in the same way as his first proposal where people who were unable to access the benefits originally, or would be for all African Americans?
In conclusion, Katznelson’s proposals aim to put those affected by discriminatory policies and their families on a level playing field with those who received the benefits offered by midcentury policies and their families. However, his proposals are underdeveloped and would be difficult and costly to implement. The concept of addressing the discriminatory legislation in the past by offering one time grants, tax credits, and implementing programs of subsidized mortgages, small business loans, and educational grants, would be well-suited to address discriminatory legislation, but the proposal put forth by Katznelson leaves too many questions to be fully convincing.
Works Cited
Katznelson, Ira. When Affirmative Action Was White: an Untold History of Racial Inequality in Twentieth-Century America. W.W. Norton, 2005
Rocha, Rene. “Lecture 5” Introduction to the Politics of Race, 2018, The University of Iowa. lecture.
Rocha, Rene. “Lecture 6” Introduction to the Politics of Race, 2018, The University of Iowa. lecture.