Why canceling student debt is a matter of racial justice - NationofChange https://www.nationofchange.org/2022/05/09/why-canceling-student-debt-...
Why canceling student debt is a matter of racial
justice
Student debt disproportionately impacts Black and Brown Americans. It’s time to end this
collective �nancial burden, and the president can do so with the stroke of a pen.
By Sonali Kolhatkar - May 9, 2022
This article was produced by Economy for All, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
Sonali Kolhatkar is the founder, host and executive producer of “Rising Up With Sonali,” a
television and radio show that airs on Free Speech TV and Pacifica stations. She is a writing
fellow for the Economy for All project at the Independent Media Institute.
“If America has a cold, then the Black community has the flu,” said India Walton, explaining
how the burden of student debt is disproportionately borne by African Americans. Walton,
who famously campaigned on a socialist platform to beat a Democratic incumbent in last
year’s mayoral primary race in Buffalo, New York, is now a senior strategic organizer with
RootsAction.org leading the organization’s “Without Student Debt” campaign. “Forty-seven
million Americans carry student debt, but the burden of the debt falls disproportionately on
Black and Brown people,” she said.
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According to the Education Data Initiative, out of the 47 million Americans that Walton
cited, about 92 percent of them (43 million Americans) have borrowed more than $1.6
trillion from the U.S. government in order to access higher education. The average federal
loan size per borrower is $37,113, but when factoring in loans from private borrowers, that
number rises to more than $40,000.
Because of how the income and wealth gap is so starkly delineated along racial lines, it’s
not at all surprising that Black and Brown students are disproportionately represented
among student borrowers. Women are also the majority of borrowers. Those at the
intersection of race and gender are most impacted. “The average Black woman carries more
than $35,000 in student debt,” said Walton.
The simple reason why nearly one-third of all undergraduates borrow money from the
federal government in order to attend college or university is that the cost of higher
education has risen dramatically. According to one in-depth analysis, it has risen nearly five
times faster than inflation over the past half-century. And, if the price tag of higher
education were in line with inflation, it would cost only about $10,000 or $20,000 per year
to attend a public or private four-year school, respectively. Instead, while public universities
are still relatively less pricey, private schools can cost upward of $50,000 a year.
Since wages haven’t kept up with the skyrocketing costs of higher education, student debt
has ballooned as borrowers are unable to pay back the loans. It’s no wonder that some
people consider suicide as they face the grim prospects of being unable to pay back tens of
thousands of dollars.
It turns out that student debt, just like medical debt or the inability to pay increasing rents,
is just another feature of a capitalist, market-driven system designed to ensure the health
of Wall Street over the wellness of people. And—it bears repeating—those financial stresses
affect people of color the most. “It’s a stain on this, the wealthiest nation in the world, that
we are not even able to provide basic services to our people,” said Walton.
Meanwhile, since his election, President Joe Biden has tantalized debt-burdened Americans
with indications that he might keep his campaign promises of forgiving federal student
loans. His initial campaign promise of forgiving $50,000 in loans was dramatically
downgraded to only $10,000. Walton said, “what we’re asking for, what we’re demanding, is
that all SHAR
federally
ES guaranteed student debt be canceled,” not just a portion.
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Corporate media outlets are predictably doing their part to help Biden water down the idea
of debt forgiveness. Even though only a minority of Americans feel that it is unfair to forgive
the loans of some people because others have found ways to pay them back, media outlets
have elevated this talking point.
Walton said this argument is “not valid.” Citing the high cost of colleges and low wages, she
said, “we’re just not in the same economic conditions as people were, who seem to tout
having paid off their student loan[s].”
Additionally, some media pundits are labeling the demand to erase student debt as a radical
idea, akin to “Defund the Police,” or “Abolish ICE” (none of these are in fact radical). David
Frum writing in the Atlantic claimed that the call to erase student debt is a “trap” laid for
Biden by leftist activists. He bizarrely compared it to the right-wing culture wars being
waged by GOP leaders like Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.
How is DeSantis’ targeting of transgender youth to win political points from his rabidly
homophobic and transphobic voter base anything like Biden erasing the student debt of 43
million Americans? If anything, the GOP may be opposed to debt forgiveness precisely
because such a move would benefit disproportionately impacted Black and Brown people.
Americans are worried about the state of the economy, and are blaming Biden for it. In
such a context, student debt forgiveness is a no-brainer. Not only would it amount to a
retroactive government subsidy for higher education—a far more constructive use of tax
dollars than, say, the fossil fuel industry—it would also amount to an economic stimulus.
With fewer loan payments to make, borrowers would have more income freed up to spend
on necessities. At a time of high inflation, any extra income helps household finances.
As prospects for Democrats to hold on to their slim House and Senate majorities in the
November midterms appear grim, it would seem to be an obvious electoral tactic, if not a
morally sound decision, to forgive the student debt that has hampered the lives of so many
people, and especially Black and Brown Americans. Polls show there is overwhelming
support for doing so.
The response from the GOP does not go beyond the now-cliché label of “socialism” to
describe debt forgiveness. Republicans are also claiming that Biden lacks the legal right to
cancel the
SHARdebt
ES via executive order—a laughable position in light of former President Donald
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Trump’s constant executive overreach. But, in response to Republicans introducing a recent
bill to thwart Biden’s executive authority to cancel student debt, analysts have pointed out
that the Republican Party has inadvertently admitted that the president does indeed have
the legal standing to do so.
“The Higher Education Act of 1964 gives the president the power to direct his secretary of
education to cancel debt broadly,” said Walton. Indeed, for the past two years, Biden has
used this same authority to pause the repayment of federal student debt in light of
pandemic-related financial hardships.
Still, that hasn’t stopped Obama-era Education Department general counsel Charlie Rose
from claiming that presidential action to erase student debt is legally questionable and
suggesting that loan servicing companies might sue the administration.
“I’m concerned,” said Walton. “I don’t know what the reason for not [doing] broad
cancellation [of debt] would be.” Republicans never seem to waver in their singular focus on
ensuring that wealth flows upward and into the hands of wealthy white elites. And
Democrats, far too often, fail to provide a countervailing force in the other direction.
Sonali Kolhatkar
Sonali Kolhatkar is a columnist for Truthdig. She also is the founder, host and producer of “Rising Up With
Sonali,” a radio and television show that airs on Pacifica stations KPFK and KPFA and will begin airing on
Free Speech TV. She is the former founder, host and producer of KPFK Pacifica’s popular morning drive-time
program “Rising Up With Sonali,” based in Los Angeles. She is also the co-director of the Afghan Women’s
Mission, a U.S.-based non-profit solidarity organization that funds the social, political, and humanitarian
projects of RAWA.
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