Hey, Let's Get Everyone on Board with the Climate Crisis by Doling Out Money!
I don't read the New York Times even to know what the left is up to. It's just too painful and the condescension drips from every line, so I avoid the misery. But, the Times still shows up regularly in my news feeds as others ridicule its ideological blindness. That was the case this morning as Ann Althouse quoted from a guest essay by Jerel Ezell ititled “Biden Underestimates How Much Black Americans Care About This Issue."
Here are the excerpts (emphasis and some paragraphing added):
"Democratic strategists seem to see climate change as a key political issue only for white liberal elites and assume that other groups, like Black voters, are either unaware of or apathetic about it...."
"During his speech at Morehouse, [Biden] mentioned the climate crisis explicitly only in a stray line about 'heeding your generation’s call to a community free of gun violence and a planet free of climate crisis and showing your power to change the world.'
There’s a better way to talk about the issue, one that might galvanize Black voters... focus[ing] on how the Biden administration is investing in clean energy hubs, green work force development, tax credits for home improvement measures and community grants.
Mr. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act earmarked roughly $2 billion for community-level climate justice initiatives, such as grants for green technology and reducing the health risks from heat and pollution that have ravaged Black communities, and there’s more money waiting to be doled out...."
Althouse, of course, picked up on those last few words:
So, the "better way to talk about" climate change to black voters — instead of talking about "a planet free of climate crisis" — is to let them know there are billions of dollars "waiting to be doled out" to their specific communities. And that's "how much black Americans care" — they care about the money that might be doled out to them. That's what it says in the article.
Right on, Ann! The author of the guest essay, is from the University of California at Berkely. He has a Phd in Sociology and is "a social epidemiologist and assistant professor in Community Health Sciences, and a Fulbright Scholar. Dr. Ezell also serves as the Director of the forthcoming Berkeley Center for Cultural Humility” and that pretty much tells us everything we need to know about him. Like most readers I I always wanted to be a "social epidemiologist” and if there is anything I believe in, it's cultural humility." After all, isn't that exactly what waiting for money to be doled out all about?
The one thing you might not know about Ezell from his biography is that he's black. So, does he really think all black folks are waiting for the dole? I certainly don't and I feel insulted for my black friends, all of whom have worked hard and only desire the same thing as everyone else, including economic security. They don't need patronizing attitudes from anyone else, including Mr. Ezell. They don't need someone trying to fool them into some phony climate scam. They can make up their own minds and my gut tells me they're not much impressed by the climate cult. From the reluctance of Democrats to campaign on climate, I wonder the "climate crisis” is getting for their taste as well.
#Berkeley #JerelEzell #ClimateCrisis #AnnAlthouse
