Racial Justice Is Not Separate From Economic Justice

Racial justice and equality cannot be separated from economic justice and equality. A number of companies are jumping on the bandwagon of smoke and mirror change regarding racial justice and inequality without having to do much of anything. They will give money to certain organizations, increase the diversity of their upper management, and perhaps fund some education program, but do nothing in regard to what they can really do to make a difference.

Corporations have been on a long standing trend of paying their executives and upper management ridiculously exorbitant salaries along with obscene benefits while they scour the world for the cheapest labor that they can find combined with the fewest environmental and safety regulations.

U.S. corporations and politicians gave away much of the United States' manufacturing and industrial base to countries (mainly China) with the cheapest labor and fewest regulations. No consideration was given whatsoever for the political, economic, environmental and other costs of this decision, domestically or internationally.

Cheap labor means big profits that companies spend on their upper management and executives. Money is also spent on advertising near slave labor products, much of which go to social media giants that spread hate, bigotry, lies and violence while censoring free speech that has nothing to do with hate, bigotry or violence.

Imagine if all that manufacturing and industry never left the United States. Imagine if the United States had responsible business and political leaders not driven by greed that were content with paying themselves reasonable salaries and benefits along with fair wages for their workers.

Imagine if vast urban areas and other parts of the United States were not devoid of legitimate jobs.

The primary employer in many low income urban areas in the United States is the drug trade, which fuels gangs, violence, religious and racial cults and fanatics.

The less there is legitimate employment, the more there is a strong drug trade, the greater the likelihood of violent interactions with the police. A violent gang and drug culture in the United States ensures continued violence, which gets swept under the rug or condoned.

It is easy to focus on the police alone and ignore everything else. Rich elites, black, white and everything in between, get to maintain their innocence and self righteous stature.

Education alone will not change racial and economic inequity if jobs do not exist that can absorb educated people into the workforce.

There is a country in the world with a high level of education and literacy, and where English is commonly spoken.  But jobs are lacking. Many of the educated are unemployed or underemployed and do everything they can to escape the country.

The United States must take back its industrial and manufacturing base.

This will take power away from corrupt regimes and dictatorships that profit from the shameful American giveaway.

The environment will benefit from stricter environmental regulations practiced in the United States, despite the present administrations weakening of many of those restrictions.

The less the Pacific ocean and other waters are polluted thousands of miles away, the better for the entire United States.

When elitists, black, white and brown cry out for racial justice, make sure economic justice is included in the playbook.