Views on the News: President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package
*Trigger warning: Death of Black people at the hands of police violence and white supremacy*
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Last week, former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second degree murder, third degree murder and second degree manslaughter for murdering George Floyd after violently detaining him on May 25, 2020. Given the ongoing police brutality against Black people in the United States, what do the results of this trial mean for the fight to achieve racial justice? What kind of cultural, legal and policy changes are necessary to achieve racial justice in the United States?
Prof. Rajesh Sampath (Heller)
My first reaction was that the package should have been passed long before President Biden's inauguration and first days in office, but that was impossible during the Trump-Republican embargo on basic relief and equality. From a progressive view, I only wish there was more allocated in terms of stimulus payments, child tax credit and weekly unemployment insurance. How can families survive past a month given the uncertainty of the impact of the vaccines, the possibility of other surges and variants of the COVID-19 virus and the prolonged need to social distance and quarantine, thereby stalling a return to normalcy, let alone the possibility of economic growth? As Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) has said, “universal healthcare must be a basic right.” Lastly, I am not surprised by the delayed bipartisanship regardless of which political party you identify with. What this whole fiasco of politicizing a global pandemic reveals is telling: over 500,000 Americans were killed because capital, power and privilege were prioritized over any basic equality and respect for all human life. Alas, we cannot achieve this equality in our current state: the hierarchy, stratification and inequality of American society cutting across race, gender, sexuality, dis/ability, immigrant status and class lines appear to be ineradicable.
Rajesh Sampath is an associate professor of Philosophy of Justice, Rights, and Social Change.
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