Last month, President Biden declared that he would not support the student debt waiver, and he took a big step backwards to keep the promises he made to black voters and black women during his campaign. Asked about Senator Schumer, Senator Warren and other lawmakers’ proposal to wipe out $ 50,000 per person student loan debt at CNN City Hall, Biden quickly said, “I will not let this happen.”
Biden’s position is clearly out of touch with black voters, which was instrumental in his victory in November. Color Of Change has just released a survey showing that 84 percent of black voters support student debt elimination. Forty percent said they would not vote for a candidate who is opposed to it, and another 40 percent said Biden wants to make sure any student admitted to public college can finish without taking out loans.
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The student loan debt crisis is not just a national economic issue – it is also an issue of racial justice. The price of higher education is deliberately unfair to black students due to racist policies that perpetuate and widen the racial wealth gap. Many lending companies offer exceptional lending practices, limited access to bank loans, misleading marketing and unnecessary fees that increase the price of education for black people compared to their white counterparts.
Still, it’s getting harder and harder to get a job that pays the bills without a college degree. Ninety-one percent of black voters surveyed believe that the cost of higher education makes college unattainable, and the same percentage of black voters believe the study of the university is generally beneficial. If you think about how higher education is honored in our society compared to the price of college college, it is clear that black communities have been blocked from the beginning.
Sixty-four percent of black voters who have never attended a post-secondary institution indicate that it was due to student loan debt, and 70 percent believe that high schools are no longer worthwhile. More than half of students are in debt to go to university and 2020 graduates owe an average of $ 37,500 – an amount that has risen by 20 percent over the past five years.
Given centuries of economic oppression that have kept black communities from accumulating generational wealth, black students will be more likely to defer their loans for a few years – earning thousands more in interest, forcing them to potentially get paid. to live up to salary or to do various jobs. —To pay off loans only into adulthood. Not to mention the fact that many black people take out private loans to pay their tuition fees, which do not even qualify for federal student loan forgiveness. These effects continue for generations and throughout communities. According to our poll:
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73 percent said they would save for retirement
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53 percent would buy a home instead of renting
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49 percent would live in another area
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48 percent will be more likely to leave a job where they face discrimination
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30 percent want to start their own small business
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) Said it best when she tweeted earlier this year: “Do you want to thank black women? Cancel student debt – that’s all. ”
Do you want to thank black women?
Cancel student debt – that’s all.
Black women carry more student debt than any other group in America.
Save your words of appreciation. Policy is our language of love.
– Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) 19 January 2021
Black women today have more student debt than any other group in America, so it is no surprise that according to our poll, black women show the highest support for eliminating student loan debt. We need tangible legislation to improve our lives, support our families and create economic mobility in our communities – policies such as a living wage and affordable educational opportunities that enable us to overcome the structural barriers to our upward mobility in almost every aspect of our economy and society.
Biden must act courageously to make the university affordable for black families and to completely eliminate both private and federal student debt – not just $ 10,000 of it during the pandemic. If the Democrats want black voters to reach out to them in 2022 and 2024, Congress and the Biden-Harris government must turn their campaign promises into policies.
All the promises of politicians who say ‘Black Lives Matter’ are worth nothing if they stand in the way of our upward mobility and policy change. And eliminating student loan debt – along with raising the minimum wage and ending mass incarceration – is one of the most powerful ways to help restore centuries of systemic racism and undo economic inequality.
Black women and voters worked all the time to help Biden beat Trump and make the Senate blue. Biden knows this, and that’s one of the reasons he should put black women at the center of his agenda. This administration will not only be judged on its optics, but also its policies. It’s time for Biden to actively commit to promoting racial equity and eliminating full student debt – for good.
Go to ColorOfChange.org and demand that Congress eliminate student loan debt.
Arisha Hatch is Vice President of Campaigns, Color Of Change, the largest racial justice organization in the country. Color Of Change helps people to respond effectively to injustice in the world around us. As a national online force powered by more than 7 million members, we are making decision makers in corporations and government to create a more humane and less hostile world for black people in America. Visit www.colorofchange.org.