Sunday, May 01, 2016
Wow!
An NYTimes article by Beverly Reed on inequality, FDR, Obama, Trump, Sanders, et al.
Excellent beyond excellent. Perfect. Gets everything right about the modern situation.
Only one quibble, on FDR as usual. Reed says:
Frank largely gives Roosevelt a pass on the New Deal’s own structural inequalities, including its exclusions of women and nonwhite workers.
FDR didn't exclude nonwhites. Let's prove it. I'm using 1940 census pages from Enid, discussed more fully here.
Comparing the black part of town with a white working-class section. One actual census page from each neighborhood, chopped and channeled to show only sex, race, age and occupation. Note that the black page has more workers overall; and note especially that the black page has 7 WPA/NYA workers while the white page has only one. The race side of the above article is wrong.
Of the 7 black WPA workers, one was female. Overall in 1940, about half as many females as males were employed, so the gender side of Reed's claim may be valid.... but at least in Enid it appears that black women didn't need the WPA. Six of the black women were employed, which is around the national average. Only two of the white women were employed.
Comparing the black part of town with a white working-class section. One actual census page from each neighborhood, chopped and channeled to show only sex, race, age and occupation. Note that the black page has more workers overall; and note especially that the black page has 7 WPA/NYA workers while the white page has only one. The race side of the above article is wrong.
Of the 7 black WPA workers, one was female. Overall in 1940, about half as many females as males were employed, so the gender side of Reed's claim may be valid.... but at least in Enid it appears that black women didn't need the WPA. Six of the black women were employed, which is around the national average. Only two of the white women were employed.Labels: Zero Problems
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