It’s been 57 years since Martin Luther King, Junior, gave his “I have a dream speech.” And, 56 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Over this period, too little has changed. The United States has a persistent systemic racism problem that must be fixed.

In the most recent Gallup Poll (https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/312875/race-relations-nation-important-problem.aspx) respondents indicated that race relations were the most pressing national problem: “Gallup’s long-standing ‘most important problem’ question provides important context for measuring the impact of the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis… Some 19% of Americans named race relations as the nation’s top problem in our May 28-June 4 survey. This is, by one point, the highest percentage since July 1968.”

I’m a privileged white man.  Therefore, I broach the subject of racism with trepidation.  Nonetheless, here are five suggested actions that white folks can take to improve race relations.  These are actions you can take at home or in your community.

1.Inquire within. Start your personal work on racism by having a serious talk about race within your family, or circle of friends, or church. In other words, have a meaningful discussion about race with people that you care about but who, perhaps, you’ve avoided having this discussion with.  (Rather than talk about race in the abstract, talk about specific situations that affect your family members.)  This will take time; be prepared to go slow, listen a lot, and (possibly) have your feelings hurt when non-white family or friends tell you of their experiences with racism.

My multiracial family has started this discussion.  It’s hard.  What helps is that we all love each other and want to have a totally honest talk about race.

Caution: If you are a white person, GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD.  Racism is best understood on a visceral level.  LISTEN more than talk.

2. Provide financial support for the “Black Lives Matter” movement.  To be sustainable, the movement needs money.

I’m a member of Indivisible and I trust them.  Recently the leaders of Indivisible provided a list of BLM-related organizations to support (https://secure.actblue.com/donate/indivisible-blm? ): “One of many ways that we can show up is by funneling resources directly to Black-led organizations doing the work on the ground to support the uprising and developing strategies and campaigns to advance racial justice.”  These organizations include: Black Lives Matter Global Network, Color of Change, Movement for Black Lives, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Bail  Out, National Police Accountability Project, and Unicorn Riot.  (To this I would add my perennial favorite, The American Civil Liberties Union.)

White folks need to do more than talk.  We need to act.  Start by writing a check.

3. Hold Police Departments accountable: Take a long look at your local police department.  Compare how your non-white friends are treated by the police with how you are treated.  Be prepared to be shocked.

Americans must “reimagine” policing; local citizens need to reassert control over their police departments and not leave control in the hands of police unions and the white elite.  Reimagining policing will, not doubt, result in reducing the funds that most cities spend on their police departments.

A fair criminal justice system requires national policy changes.  For example, on June 8th, the House of Representatives passed the “Justice in Policing Act:”  (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/us/politics/democrats-police-misconduct-bill-protests.html )  Among other things, this bill outlaws chokeholds and limits police-officer immunity.  All of us should support this initiative.

4. Provide Equitable Healthcare:  The middle of a pandemic is a good time to be aware of how race affects the delivery of health services.

African-Americans, and other people of color, are more likely than whites to succumb to COVID-19.  A recent Guardian study (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/04/coronavirus-black-minority-americans-house-subcommittee) noted: “Black and minority Americans are more likely to be infected and die from COVID-19, because structural racism has left those populations with inferior health, housing and economic conditions.”

The Public Policy Institute of California (https://www.ppic.org/blog/racial-disparities-in-covid-19-mortality/? ) found: “Even after adjusting for age, sex, comorbidity, and income, African Americans appear to be much more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 than whites are. Most ominously, though, African Americans who contract the virus are dying at disproportionately high rates— their share of COVID-19 deaths is about 1.5 times greater than their share of the state population.”

The obvious solution is an equitable healthcare system, such as “Medicare for all.”  But that’s a way off.  Start by helping your family and friends get adequate healthcare.

5. Protect Voting Rights: The Civil Rights Act was intended to safeguard the votes of African-Americans, and other people of color.  Nonetheless, for the last 56 years, there have been well-organized white initiatives to nullify the votes of non-whites — and women.  We’ve seen this recently in Wisconsin, Georgia, and Kentucky.

No one denies this is a problem.  See for example, this USA Today story: (https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/03/black-voting-rights-15th-amendment-still-challenged-after-150-years/4587160002/)  In May the House of Representatives passed the “Heroes Act” which includes funds for voter protection (https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/heroes-act-includes-funding-election-officials-need-run-safe-secure); this bill should be passed by the Senate.

Summary: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was intended to end segregation in public places and ban employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.  While it succeeded in the first objective, it failed to effectively ban employment discrimination and did not achieve the objective of ending segregation.  In 2020, the United States is a segregated society.

Segregation continues to impact the life chances of African-Americans.  It affects their education, healthcare, housing, employment, and access to capital.  For example, a recent Time Magazine article (https://time.com/5855900/segregation-wealth-gap/ ) noted: “Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment among Black people in the U.S. was far higher than among white people (6.0% versus 3.1% in January), and median household incomes were substantially lower ($40,258 versus$68,145 as of 2017). As the COVID-19 outbreak exploded across the U.S., the unemployment disparity continued: unemployment among Black workers rose to 16.8% in May, from 16.7% in April, as white unemployment fell to 12.4% from 14.2%.”

The United States has a persistent systemic racism problem that must be fixed. It’s up to white folks to make the changes required so that the United States can actually become a functioning Democracy, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

On June 17th, California “celebrated” the three-month anniversary of Governor Gavin Newsom’s “shelter-in-place” order.  The good news is that we’re serious about dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic; the bad news is that the combination of the pandemic and “shelter-in-place” order has had a devastating impact on the California economy.

So far, California has more than 167,000 COVID-19 cases and 5300 deaths.  We haven’t “flattened the curve” yet; we’re adding more than 3000 new cases per day, mostly in Los Angeles County and the surrounding counties, such as Orange and Riverside.  This means that California is gradually opening up but we have to be careful.  On June 18, Governor Newsom ordered all Californians to wear masks when in public or “high-risk settings.” (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-06-18/california-mandatory-face-masks-statewide-order-coronavirus-gavin-newsom)

The pandemic-induced “shelter-in-place” order has had several noticeable economic impacts:

Unemployment: California has 40 million residents and a labor force of approximately 18 million workers. Governor Newsom expects the state’s unemployment rate to peak around 25 percent later in the year (with the rate for 2020 expected to be 18 percent). The Public Policy Institute of California (https://www.ppic.org/wp-content/uploads/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-their-government-may-2020.pdf ) describes a dire situation: “More than one-third of adults (35 percent) report that they or someone in their household have been laid off or lost their job due to the coronavirus outbreak, and half (51 percent) report someone in their house having work hours reduced or pay cut.” [Emphasis added]

According to the Public Policy Institute of California (https://www.ppic.org/blog/early-insights-on-californias-economic-downturn/?),  “The lion’s share of job loss (more than 80 percent) occurred in three service sectors: arts, entertainment, and recreation; accommodations and food; and ‘other services’ (a category that includes automotive repair, personal care, and dry cleaning).”  These sectors fell significantly faster than they did during the first month of the great recession — December 2007 through January 2008.  (In contrast, during the great recession, the sector experiencing the most impact was construction.)

As California counties learn to manage the pandemic, more businesses are permitted to open.  Here in Sonoma County, we’ve begun to open restaurants, tasting rooms, bars, movie theaters, fitness centers, galleries and campgrounds — we’re preparing for “cautious” tourism.  As this happens, more furloughed employees will return to work.  Nonetheless, not everyone who had a job will return to the same job or hours.

California outlook: Significant unemployment for the rest of the year —  more than 15 percent.

Tourism: In 2019, California made $145 billion from tourism. This year, by mid-April, the Golden State’s tourism business had stopped.  This abrupt halt cost the jobs of most of the Golden State’s 600,000 travel industry employees. It also had a secondary impact: reduction of state revenues — travel taxes are a key source of revenue for California cities, amounting to $12 billion in 2019.

As California counties begin to manage the pandemic, intra-state tourism is restarting.  For example, in Sonoma County, residents of other California counties are beginning to travel here to visit our wineries and parks.  Nonetheless, we’re not seeing visitors from other states or countries and it’s unclear when we will.

California outlook: Out-of-state tourism is dead for the rest of 2020, resulting in a continued negative economic impact.

Budget Deficit: On June 15th, the California legislature passed a pandemic-crisis budget (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-06-15/california-assembly-passes-budget-that-depends-on-federal-aid).  Bloomberg News reported that California lawmakers “passed a $143 billion general-fund budget for the next fiscal year that counts on federal aid before triggering spending cuts… The bill they approved is a placeholder of sorts for the fiscal year beginning July 1 as they said they will continue to negotiate with [Governor] Newsom and can make changes later in the summer… California is grappling with a $13.4 billion budget shortfall this year and $40.9 billion in the next as pandemic-related shutdowns slam the economy of the most populous U.S. state.”

If the California budget is not bailed out by Federal aid, then California will be forced to cut funds to education and other critical services.  (Most California schools have yet to reopen and many seek additional funds because of pandemic-related health-safety requirements — such as smaller class sizes and increased cleaning procedures.

California outlook: Later in the summer, Congress will probably pass a stimulus bill that provides funds for hard-hit states and cities.  This will help alleviate California’s 2020 budget pain, but the Golden State’s 2021 outlook is also grim.

Agriculture: Although accounting for only 2 percent of California’s economy, agriculture produces $47.1 billion in revenue. Over a third of the United States’ vegetables and two-thirds of the country’s fruits and nuts are grown in California — it’s the leading US state for cash farm receipts, accounting for over 13 percent of the nation’s total agricultural value.

Since Governor Newsom’s March 17th shelter-in-place order, California farmworkers have been declared “essential” workers and have remained in the fields and packing sheds.  Unfortunately, they are beginning to get sick.

Hispanics/Latinos are 57 percent of California’s infected population — 92,000 of 167,000.  Most of the “essential” farmworkers are Hispanic and more than 50 percent are undocumented (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/02/us/coronavirus-undocumented-immigrant-farmworkers-agriculture.html).  So far, the pandemic hasn’t caused major disruptions in California’s agricultural production, but it seems inevitable that there will be problems.

California outlook: As the summer progresses, the pandemic is likely to disrupt aspects of California’s food supply.

Summary: As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, California’s economy has taken a big hit.  We’re working our way through the crisis but the big problems won’t be solved quickly.

On June 6th, Joe Biden officially won the Democratic nomination for President.  There’s a stark contrast between the style and policies of Biden and the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.  At the moment, Trump is the underdog; however, we all remember what happened in 2016.  Trump is planning another come-from-behind victory; he’s betting that his positions on three national problems will swing the election odds in his favor.

The current Real Clear Politics polling average shows Joe Biden with an eight-point lead over Donald Trump (https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/us/general_election_trump_vs_biden-6247.html)   Most of the swing-state polls also show Biden with a lead; for example, in Pennsylvania, Biden has a 3 point edge over Trump.

The Trump campaign is betting that, over the next 140+ days, Donald’s contrarian positions on three national problems will favor his candidacy: 1. Nothing will come of the death of George Floyd and the associated protests. 2. The pandemic will fade away. 3. The U.S. economy will bounce back from recession — there will be a “V-shaped” recovery.

1. The death of George Floyd and the national protests for racial justice.  After the horrendous death of George Floyd, some hoped that Donald Trump might change his tone and step forward as a unifier: make an appeal for racial justice and an end to police brutality.  Trump has chosen not to do this.

On June 1st, Trump ordered the police and national guard to break up a peaceful demonstration outside the White House in Lafayette Park.  (https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2020/06/08/timeline-trump-church-photo-op/? )  Since then Donald has adopted a hardline position: the protestors are terrorists, the police require unwavering support, and “systemic racism” is a myth.  He’s running as “the law and order President” and assumes that his base, and undecided voters, will buy this stance.

Trump’s inflexible attitude means that whatever racial-justice legislation passes the House, it will probably die in the Republican-controlled Senate because Trump, and his crony Mitch McConnell, won’t approve of any changes to the status quo.

By taking this position, Trump and the Republican Party are misreading public sentiment.  The death of George Floyd, the wave of videos of police brutality, and the enormous protests indicate the American psyche has reached a tipping point: white voters are ready to tackle systemic racism.  The New York Times reports (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/us/politics/polling-george-floyd-protests-racism.html):