Warren: ‘Not an Accident’ Economic Security Tougher for Black Families

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) believes that it is “not an accident” that black families have a tougher time getting economic security in the United States.

The Atlantic on Tuesday highlighted that Warren’s 2020 policy platform “addresses America’s legacy of discrimination” and “her message in many ways intentionally places an emphasis on race and wealth.”

Warren told the Atlantic that “it’s not an accident” that obtaining economic security “is even tougher and rockier for black families,” and she spoke about access to home ownership and higher education.

“Homeownership is the No. 1 way middle-class families build wealth, so it’s no surprise that for decades the federal government subsidized the purchase of housing for white families, but denied that to black families,” Warren told the outlet. “Black Americans were kept out of higher education, and federal and state governments poured money into colleges that served almost exclusively white students.”

Warren touted her education plan that includes “a $50 billion fund for historically black colleges and other minority-serving institutions” and “a provision to allow private historically black colleges, such as Morehouse, Howard, and Dillard University, in New Orleans, to opt in to her tuition-free model.”

Because Sens. Cory Booker (D-NH) and Kamala Harris (D-CA) have been underperforming with the party’s critical black voters, Warren has been making a concerted effort to win over more black Democrats, especially black women. Warren has on numerous occasions, for instance, said “structural racism” in the medical profession explains the high maternal mortality rates for black and brown women.

“In a detailed report, ProPublica found that the vast majority of maternal deaths are preventable, but decades of racism and discrimination mean that, too often, doctors and nurses don’t hear Black women’s health issues the same way they hear them from other women,” Warren wrote in Essence. “These are structural problems that require structural solutions, and as they have so often in the past, Black women and activists are leading the way.”

Black activists in recent months have praised Warren after hearing her speak at various town halls and forums, with many saying that she stole the show at last month’s She The People forum.