How private equity is destroying the labors of love

I remember. Do you? Sixty years ago today, Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, seeking to focus the nation’s attention on civil rights and jobs.

- Robert Reich

I was a high school junior, watching the event from afar on TV. I was mesmerized by the power of King’s oratory, overcome by his grace and hope.

One of my mother’s friends, visiting at the time, called Dr. King a “troublemaker.” That was the last I ever saw of her.

He was a troublemaker, in the sense that the late civil rights leader and Congressman John Lewis used the term: He was a maker of “good trouble.”

Dr. King’s speech, as well as the March on Washington, focused on economic discrimination and the lack of decent jobs for Black Americans. The civil rights leaders who organized the events made sure to include white labor organizer Walter Reuther, the head of the United Auto Workers.

Today, 60 years later, I can’t resist asking: How much progress has been made since then?

Poverty rates for Black Americans have fallen over the past 60 years. According to the latest data, a smaller proportion of Black people live in poverty than ever before. The Black poverty rate is 18.8% — about half what it was in 1966 — but still high in comparison to other races.

The average income of Black households, after growing through the 1960s and 1970s, seemed to hit a ceiling. It is now around 65% of that of white households, where it’s been for some 40 years.