People don't need or DESERVE special treatment, be it negative or positive, people deserve to be treated as equal.
I don't understand why is it so hard to fathom?
https://www.reddit.com/r/coolguides/comments/gq2n31/inequali...
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/16/black-owned... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/minority-busines...
The education system in America is truly lacking and it shows when it comes to the topic of race/racism which is a key part of our economic history and inextricably tied to the history and development of US capitalism.
A lot of minorities are running restaurants.
Black people are the least rewarded early investors in the startup we call the USA.
They have more right to be in this country than any group other than Native Americans, a large % are in fact descendants of native Americans but are not recognized as such due to a paper genocide and deportation program carried out by the govt of the US in the early 20th century.
No other minority group is in this position. Anyone who has studied the history knows the country still owes a tremendous outstanding debt to this group of people.
Ask yourself if education, poverty, healthcare, loans, housing, etc... would be an issue if they were actually paid what we all collectively owed them. I expect some portions of the racism would still exist but economic empowerment is always a potential gamechanger.
Seems uber is trying to help fix that gap themselves. I commend them for at least trying something novel.
I think it's better to say that race exists, but it's a cultural construct, not a biological reality. It's clear that in the USA the largest part of people with black or dark brown skin color have a shared history and culture that comes from the capture of native African population. They clearly have something in common, and they exist as a group. The term "race" is problematic, but it's the best one we have.
I'm very skeptical of this move, its sustainability in the medium term, and I overall really dislike Uber as a business, but equality is NOT the point.
Society is already unequal, you cannot wish it away with a magic wand.
The way to address inequality, is to think in terms of equity:
http://betterbikeshare.org/2019/10/24/equity-vs-equality/
Also, this is obviously not an example of racism. Racism can be defined as:
"prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior."
The term that you're looking for is Affirmative action, defined as:
"Affirmative action is a policy in which an individual's color, race, sex, religion or national origin are taken into account to increase opportunities provided to an underrepresented part of society"
> If you are black, you are less likely to get a small business loan, and if so you are likely to get worse rates [1]. They also are encountering more resistance to accessing COVID-19 bailout funds [2]. These are just two examples specific to being a business owner, not to mention the systemic racism they face as individuals.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/16/black-owned.... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/10/business/minority-busines....
I think this Uber Eats policy is both bad policy and dumb, but I also think that pretending legal racism that only ended in my parents' (still alive) lifetime doesn't have a huge effect on society, not to mention ongoing institutionalized racism the current protests are meant to address.