The Problem with Proportionality if your Goal is Justice

“The movement for racial justice has shifted its focus from inequality to “disparity,” while neatly evading any critique of the structures that produce inequality.” — Adolph Reed Jr.

During the civil rights era, we thought racial and economic justice were linked. We especially wanted four things:

1. The end of poverty with Basic Income.
2. A minimum wage that is a living wage, as it was originally intended to be.
3. Free higher education so everyone has the opportunity to rise.
4. Universal health care because medical care is a need, not a luxury.

We lost. Thanks to the adoption of neoliberal economics under Carter and Reagan, the wealth gap between the bottom 80% and the top 20% has grown and class mobility has decreased . Today, the countries with the greatest class mobility are Scandinavian; the US ranks #27.

Though class is the US’s greatest taboo, the great majority of Americans know our system is unfair. In 2012, Dan Ariely wrote that “Americans — regardless of political affiliation, income, and gender” thought 11% of our wealth should go to the poorest fifth of the nation and 32% of the wealth should go to the richest. As you can see below, they underestimated how unfair the system actually is. In…