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> But whenever people talk about the 'good old days' they're racist, right? /s Why can't we have a more nuanced discussion and acknowledge both: a. that global
by choochooboogalu 8y ago
> But whenever people talk about the 'good old days' they're racist, right? /s
Why can't we have a more nuanced discussion and acknowledge both:
a. that globalism, free trade, and automation have negatively impacted blue collar workers
b. that much of blue collar quality of life in good old days did come at the explicitly racist policies, starting with slavery and continuing through federally enforced redlining in which has been the main source of wealth accumulation [1]
It's also worth noting that many working class gains in the "good old days" excluded black workers due to historical racial divisions in labor movement and unions explicitly opposed economic liberties for racial and ethnic minorities. [2] MLK was murdered while working to unify the racial and labor struggles. This division continues to be exploited by populist politicians.
> If people truly cared about the plight of the uneducated working class, there'd be taxes on wealth, incentives against rentiers, far higher minimum wages
FWIW, I agree with these items and grew up on a farm in the white american heartland
The GI bill is another good example of economic support for the working class from the "good old days" that like much of the Jim Crow era primarily benefited whites at the expense of other racial groups [3]
1. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-unfulfilled-promise-of-fair-housing/557009/ https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/the-unf...
2. https://racial-justice.aflcio.org/blog/est-aliquid-se-ipsum-flagitiosum-etiamsi-nulla https://racial-justice.aflcio.org/blog/est-aliquid-se-ipsum-...
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_and_the_G.I._Bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_and_the_G.I....
- watwut 8y agoBlue colar workers did not profited from slavery. The interests of free labor were one of reasons for slavery opposition. Blue colar worker can't compete with slave (or ther slaveholder using slave).
- rhizome 8y agoYou're compressing history; "blue collar" didn't exist during slavery.
- watwut 8y agoI took it as labor people - those who do manual work for compensation. Field, work, carpenter, etc. It did existed during that time period in states where slavery was not legal. There was much less of it in states where slavery was legal.
- choochooboogalu 8y agoBlue collar workers in the North definitely benefited from slavery in the form of lower cost of living as many items were imported from the South to the North. Also cheaper imports for northern manufacturing increased the value of norther labor.
- int_19h 8y agoWhite blue collar workers benefited (or believed that they benefited) from racial exclusion. That's why many labor unions in US were white-only, and supported segregation: https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/labor-unions-and-the-negrothe-record-of-discrimination/ https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/labor-unions-and... (note the date)
- watwut 8y agoThere is massive difference between racial exclusion (where blacks cant perform work) and slavery (where they are forced to perform the work for zero compensation and thus are cheaper). I wanted to disagree with that one specific point.