RACE + PUBLIC POLICY
Anti-black prejudice weakens the social safety net
Even though social welfare benefits would help a wide range of Americans, whites are of the belief that Black folks both lack a committed work ethic and implicitly link poverty with Blackness — both due in part to dominant media images as well as elite’s implicit or explicit racial rhetoric (Kreitzer et al., 2022).
Whoever coined the phrase, “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” never witnessed the vast gender and racial disparities in American society. This phrase may reflect an ideal, but not our reality. Research shows that racial attitudes have a profound impact on their support for public policies. For example, a Health Affairs study suggested “White people’s racial resentment against Black people was correlated with consistent, substantial support for more burdensome policies (Haeder & Moynihan, 2023).” Their findings demonstrate “people’s views about how state actions affect different groups… are important to their preferences.” Their results confirmed what many in the black community already knew — that many White people are unwilling to support programs that they believe will mainly help Black people. When translated into policy, this…
