Fifty-four years ago this month, Dr. Martin Luther King stood before a medical society meeting in Chicago and said, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health is the most shocking and the most inhuman because it often results in physical death.” The public health concerns swirling around how we are handling medical access and treatment around coronavirus – the lack of needed lifesaving equipment and protective gear, the government’s willful inaction that has led to this precarious place for our society are deservedly receiving attention.
But as we think about and debate our response to the coronavirus pandemic, whose voices are we not hearing? I am thinking about home-based childcare providers, mostly women of color, whose businesses are closed and who have no access to unemployment benefits. I am thinking about micro business owners whose access to capital is limited because they can’t meet all the requirements for relief. I am thinking about the unemployed house and commercial cleaners in our gig economy, neighborhood corner stores and restaurant workers. How will their voices be heard?
That brings me to another of Dr. King’s works. In his 1967 book, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community, Dr. King challenged us to look with intentionality at economic justice. He talked about how marches, sitting at lunch counters, desegregation of buses, parks, public accommodations all were disruptive, but left the erroneous impression that somehow the nation as a whole was bearing a burden in the fight for civil rights. He cautioned us that the civil rights laws passed after Birmingham or even Selma created an illusion of inclusion, but they did not extract a price for inaction. He maintained that for our nation the practical cost of change had been cheap. He warned that the scourge of a markdown education for black and brown children, trapping the poor and people of color in a cycle of low-wage jobs, and containing millions in dilapidated housing are complex issues, with solutions that must be purchased at full price.
Today, the COVID-19 outbreak is having an impact on the entire economy. Still it is the segments of our community who have historically experienced implicit and explicit racism from society and government whose economic recovery from this pandemic is least likely. Is America finally willing to pay the full price for real inclusion of all in the economy that will eventually rise out of this pandemic?
Dr. King said, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Covid-19 does not discriminate. Not by race, gender, ethnicity or geography. However, it reveals the precarious economic frailty of many communities and the corroding impact of policies, programs and practices built on historic inequities. Discounted education to black and brown children leaves them less prepared for home schooling in a pandemic. They are less likely to have access to appropriate technology and learning platforms, more likely to have a parent earning just minimum wage, working in an “essential” retail or a service role in a nursing home or hospital, and more likely to experience housing and food insecurity. This crisis has put in clear relief the need to enlist those closest to the problems to inform and lead strategies for equitable systemic solutions and investments. That is the goal of the King Center for Economic Justice, slated to open in Roxbury this summer, the action component of the living memorial to the Kings planned for the Boston Common.
Wealth disparities across race are an indication of economic injustice. Serving as a convener and catalyst for change, the King Center will provide technical support to residents. In partnership with providers and key stakeholders, residents will set goals and inform strategy for systemic solutions to reduce the economic disparities they face. Based on resident feedback, the King Center’s initial focus will be employment and micro business development. The timing couldn’t be more critical. Dr. King challenged Boston in 1965 when he said, “It would be irresponsible of me to deny the crippling poverty and injustice that exist in some sections of this community. The vision of the New Boston must extend into the heart of Roxbury. Boston must be a testing ground for the ideal of freedom.”
Covid-19 is forcing us to hit the reset button on our economy and in our relationship to each other. It has also opened a new opportunity to answer Dr. King’s challenge. Resident voice and intellect must be at the heart of strategies and solutions crafted in response to this crisis. Let’s make sure that everyone is at the table and every voice is heard. The time is now!