This year, NC must put Black communities first as it spends taxpayer dollars
It is time to put Black communities at the center of North Carolina’s budget process.
It is time, as our state faces systemic failings that led to higher COVID-19 deaths rates in Black communities. It is time, as Black workers and business owners grapple with greater loss of income, jobs and revenue due to the pandemic.
North Carolina has the money. More public dollars are available than anticipated, partly due to the robust federal response to the pandemic. They must be used to focus first on what Black families and communities need to rebuild after disproportionate harm.
Last year the N.C. General Assembly and governor approved a budget that funnels billions to the rich and profitable corporations over the next decade. This year presents an opportunity to move forward with a different approach — one that focuses on people instead of the powerful. It is essential given the devastation of COVID-19 and decades of under-investment.
Schools
In classrooms, children — disproportionately Black, Latino, and those from low-income families — are not receiving a sound basic education because the legislature has not funded its constitutional obligation to make sure instructional supplies, teachers, staff, and learning supports are available. Some schools still face the impact of lead in the pipes, PFAS in the drinking water, and structural damage from years of underfunding and natural disasters.
Pollution
Recent data analysis shows that Black Americans are 79% more likely than whites to live in neighborhoods where industrial pollution poses great health threats and leaves them with lifelong health consequences. This includes landfills and hazardous waste sites near Black, rural and low-wealth communities. Lawmakers must invest in cleaning up those sites.
Healthcare
With the closing of rural hospitals across the state, access to adequate healthcare services is a major hurdle for these same communities. Lawmakers need to prioritize finding a way to close the healthcare coverage gap.
Clean jobs
Demands for environmental justice and climate change must be at the front of lawmaker’s minds. North Carolinians want access to clean jobs in rural towns, environmentally safe affordable housing, flood mitigation, and the ability to afford their energy bills.
As our state transitions to carbon neutrality and clean energy, many rural communities will lose jobs due as coal-powered operations close. Lawmakers must prioritize funding that will help create clean jobs in economically-disadvantaged communities. They must ensure that clean energy job-training programs are available through local agencies, community colleges, and Black-owned institutions.
Taxes
Legislators must focus on an unfair tax code that disadvantages middle- and low-income taxpayers in favor of millionaires. Last year’s reduction in the personal income tax and lowering (and eventual elimination) of the corporate income tax hurt middle- and low-income earners. When fully implemented, these cuts will send 74% of the tax break to the richest 20% of North Carolinians.
It’s time to stop believing that tax policy is race-neutral or that tax cuts at the top will trickle down. It is time to acknowledge that policy choices that aren’t centered on the well-being of those who’ve been most harmed and excluded from opportunity have made our economic landscape more precarious for all people.
In coming weeks, North Carolinians must demand action on the long-term, persistent challenges that are ignored when policymakers focus on the powerful and well-to-do. The one-time public dollars available now are best used to drive forward a focused investment in Black communities.
Given all the lessons COVID-19 should teach us — that our fates are intertwined, that our policy choices can lead to better outcomes if we help people first — we shouldn’t let our elected leaders maintain a status quo that is bad for Black communities. We need to move beyond reflection to action — action that improves systems and policies in our state to fully include and improve the lives of Black North Carolinians.
La’Meshia Whittington is deputy director of programs for North Carolina Black Alliance and a sociology professor at Meredith College in Raleigh.
