by DCG
Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan announced yesterday that the city is getting ready to address “systemic racism.”
It’s going to cost the taxpayers only $100 MILLION. Yet given Seattle’s hi$tory with trying to solve their homelessness problem, you know that amount will go up.
The press release is a word salad of progressive lingo: Deep disparities, systemic racism, institutionalized oppression, racial reckoning, climate justice, sustained investments, culturally competent prevention, school to prison pipeline, and so on.
Excerpts from the mayor’s press release:
“The City of Seattle announced today the initial membership of the Equitable Communities Initiative Task Force, which will spearhead a community-led process to develop recommendations for a historic $100 million new investment in Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities to address the deep disparities caused by systemic racism and institutionalized oppression. The $100 million investment builds on additional city investments and programs.
“Today, Seattle takes a significant step to recognize and address the generational impacts of systemic racism in our country and city and to build a more just and equitable city for the generations to come. History has placed us in a time of a worsening pandemic, an economic crisis, and a racial reckoning. Still, these unprecedented challenges also impose a moral obligation to act now to create healthy, just, and resilient communities for our Black and Indigenous neighbors and all communities of color,” said Mayor Jenny A. Durkan.
A diverse group of POC community leaders with deep connections and representing a cross-section of industries including economic development, labor, food justice, education, health care, homelessness, climate justice, are longtime community leaders. The task force will determine the scope of their work and lead all community engagement.
The task force will engage with the broader community to prioritize focus areas for investment and make funding recommendations for sustained investments and improved outcomes. Those areas may include educational and economic opportunity, community wealth building, community wellness, and the Green New Deal.”
Read the whole press release here.
Toward the end of this press release, I found that Seattle has identified another victim group: Volunteers!
The last paragraph of the announcement:
“Recognizing that communities of color have often been abused by volunteerism – lending considerable time and expertise to correct systemic problems while not being paid – the City has set aside funds to ensure members are compensated and do not face financial hardship due to participation.“
When one signs up to volunteer you expect that there will be no financial compensation; you do it out out of the goodness of your heart. And it’s also done of your own free will.
But of course, progressives find ANOTHER class of victims due to “systemic racism and institutionalized oppression.”
DCG