WEBVTT

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The question of whether or not

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Unemployment Insurance excludes

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Black workers isn't if

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it's the case, but why it's the

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case. And here the debate becomes,

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was it intentional or was it

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incidental?

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When debating the 1935 legislation,

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it was made perfectly clear to

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lawmakers that by excluding

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domestic workers and agricultural

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workers and having the unemployment

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insurance program be

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state-administered, it was from

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the outset going to be less likely

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to be enjoyed by the majority of

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Black workers.

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There are lots of historical reasons

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why this was, of course, an

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incidental inclusion.

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It was pretty hard to enroll

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agricultural workers

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into an unemployment insurance

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system. Many European countries

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who had unemployment programs at the

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time, they didn't include

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agricultural workers, either.

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And of course, it was a lot more

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likely to pass through a Supreme

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Court challenge if it was a state-

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administered program as opposed to a

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federally-administered program.

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Those are all really good reasons

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that it could be incidentally the

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case that Black workers have been

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excluded for benefit from benefits

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or incidentally the case that Black

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workers would be less likely to

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receive them.

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However, in 1935,

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prominent Black researchers and

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prominent Black politicians

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told Congress exactly what was going

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to happen. If you designed the

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program in this way, Black workers

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will be less likely to get it.

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If you have this program be

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state-administered, Black workers

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would be less likely to receive them

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in the states in which they live,

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which was predominantly the South,

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but was true in any where they went.

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So long as there was discretion

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and room to maneuver, that would

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be a hole just big enough for most

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Black workers to fall through.