After reading Giles Fraser’s article for The Guardian, I was compelled to give my thoughts on the subject of income inequality and diversity. While I won’t discuss every line written in the article, (and his unusual distaste for “liberal elites”) I do want to focus on the similarities between my beliefs and his.
Income inequality is an American issue that expands beyond race and gender. The gap between the wealthy and poor is ever growing with no realistic end in sight. Political parties, in contrast have focused so much on demographics and diversity, they have lost sight of the purpose of these initiatives, which again, is to help decrease the gap between the rich and poor.
Enter Donald Trump. President Trump was able to focus on the principles diversity to energize poor white Americans (as crazy as that sounds) by promising the creation of wealth by instituting programs to aid those previously disenfranchised. This is nothing new in regards to politics. By turning poor people against other poor people, politicians have been able to segment the people who need policies working for them the most, thereby improving the lives of some poor Americans, while consistently benefiting wealthy individuals.
Although we agree that lower class Americans by in large do not benefit as much from either parties rhetoric, what I do not agree with Fraser on, is his assumption that diversity programs benefit only wealthy minorities. Diversity accounts for more than just ethnic or genders but in some corporations also includes small business. Segmenting diversity without including its entire framework is no better than the politicians who segment the poor.
Diversity is another way of developing programs to aid those who cannot succeed due to low opportunity rates. Diversity can and should include more than gender and race with target goals matching its expansion. Taking away programs such as diversity or affirmative action only harms the group it currently helps (seriously, there are stats that prove it). Diversity is a stepping stone to income equality and does not work only when people don’t support it.
