Representative Ayanna Pressley (Dense-MA) used the opportunity of a House Financial Services Committee hearing to lecture Federal Reserve Committee Chairman Jerome Powell on Black History. For the Representative, full employment is a sign of racial justice.

Forbes.com reported:

Pressley was honing in on the concept of a “jobs guarantee,” a public commitment to the notion that everyone who is able and willing should be able to work.

“In a 1944 address, FDR called for a second Bill of Rights which included the right to a useful and financially rewarding job,” Pressley said.

If you are a cynic, like me, you might ask how one defines “a useful and financially rewarding job”, but for the social justice zealots of the House of Representatives, this concept is self-evident. You might also ask how this is the responsibility of the federal government? In fact, if you read Franklin Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights, it’s full of socialist, top-down, unrealistic ideas.

Pressley went on:

“Justice Thurgood Marshall argued that the Right to a Job is secured by the 14th Amendment,” she added. “And Dr. Martin Luther King called on the government to guarantee a job to all people who want to work, and are able to work.”

“Dr. King’s legacy is often reduced to just one speech, and the March on Washington often mischaracterized. The March on Washington was actually the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. It was a March for Economic Justice.

“And I take special claim to the fact that Dr. King and Coretta actually met in Boston. I represent Boston, and I don’t think she gets enough oxygen for the role that she played in the movement.

The video is even worse than the article makes it seem:

Dear Congresswoman Pressley: You might not have noticed that black unemployment is at an historic low thanks to the policies and deregulation led by President Donald J. Trump. On behalf of President Trump, you are welcome.

Check out how Forbes captured Chairman Powell’s response:

Powell, somewhat stunned, replied candidly:

“First, thank you for that history, I didn’t know that. So that’s our goal, that’s what we’re working to do at all times,” Powell said about full employment. “And we’re never going to say we’ve accomplished that goal, but we’ve certainly made some progress.”

I am not a fan of the Federal Reserve, but I think it’s safe to say that the Board of Governors of that institution only see green in their color wheel and that money, itself, is color-blind. In setting broad monetary policy, the Federal Reserve cannot take into account how any one group is affected. And, I bet Powell was stunned by Pressley’s history lesson and further questions.

Joe Jurado over at The Root was thrilled with Pressley’s history review:

This was a dope ass moment, can’t even lie. Unfortunately, the civil rights movement has been relegated to easy to digest narratives that highlight the struggle without focusing on the full scope of the issues it encompassed. King’s efforts when it comes to economic reform are rarely if ever, brought up.

This “dope ass moment” had nothing to do with monetary policy. Dr. King and his wife met in Boston? Good to know. That knowledge and $9.75 will get you a vente Strawberry Frappucino.

Meanwhile, also in the House of Representatives, Sheila Jackson Lee used a hearing in the House Budget Committee to rant that work requirements in the Trump Administration 2021 Budget Proposal are racist, I kid you not:

Russ Vought, the acting director for the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, was testifying to the House Budget Committee on Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2021 when Jackson Lee used her time to rip into the proposals because of work requirements.

Jackson Lee compared stereotypes of slaves being lazy and how “laws were put in place that if you were picking cotton, you couldn’t get assistance.”

One could get whiplash, right? Except that these examples are part and parcel of the Social Justice Race Predators. The government must guarantee you a job. The government cannot require you to work. No matter what the policy is, it unduly harms people of color. It would be death to their world view point if it didn’t.

Ayanna Pressley and Sheila Jackson Lee have built their careers on finding social injustice in everything. No one ever calls them out.

Featured Image: Ayanna Pressley Official Congressional Portrait/Public Domain