Oakland launches guaranteed pay plan for low-income people | Hacker News Reader

Oakland launches guaranteed pay plan for low-income people

apnews.com

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>Oakland’s project is significant because it is one of the largest efforts in the U.S. so far, targeting up to 600 families. And it is the first program to limit participation strictly to Black, Indigenous and people of color communities.

>The reason: White households in Oakland on average make about three times as much annually than black households, according to the Oakland Equity Index. It’s also a nod to the legacy of the Black Panther Party, the political movement that was founded in Oakland in the 1960s.

I guess it's good that this is privately funded, but it feels really really weird to know that there is a government program whose eligibility explicitly depends on race.

The message is: white poor people are worth less than black poor families, for the same level of poor.

"Let's divide-and-conquer people based on race, but flip which one is 'better.'" - modern politicians

It's like they want white racists to actually have a point.

It's not UBI because it has means and racial tests. Furthermore, it might be illegal because the city is promoting something that is openly racist. This may well be shutdown by lawsuits fairly quickly, and then used as ammunition to pander for votes with "the white man won't let has have free money." I don't see how this anything but an ostensible token for cynical political purposes.

As a (white) conservative I have no problem with private foundations doling out funds based on race. But they should distribute the funds directly to the recipients because government should not engage in racial discrimination.

What if that race is white? A private organization providing funds solely to white folks. Would it be a problem then? Wonder if Oakland would care in that circumstance.

Probably not, right? After all this area is so notoriously colorblind that they hid camera footage of crimes on BART for fear that it would allow the public to know the race of the perpetrators of the people attacking and robbing them.

So this should also be okay, for such a woke entity.

I'm a Christian who believes that all men and women are made in the image and likeness of God. I don't like the idea of giving money on the basis of race, but I dislike even more encroachments on personal freedom in the use of private property and on the constitutional right of free association.

But again, the government should not be taking race into account in its policies -- other than in following Chief Justice Roberts's dictum: The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.

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