Editorial
USPS crisis a cry for long-term help
Facing the pressure of Congressional
hearings, protests and even a
lawsuit from several state attorneys
general, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy
announced Tuesday he was putting a pause
on further cutbacks at the U.S. Postal Service
until after the election.
DeJoy made this decision, he claimed,
to “avoid even the appearance of any
impact on election mail.” But that reasoning
is far too late, especially as mailboxes
were locked and removed last week after
President Trump suggested on national
television that slowing the Postal Service
down would slow the mailed ballot count
down this fall, and help him win.
This sorry episode never should have
come to pass. Every American, regardless
of party, relies upon the USPS’ functions
in some way — whether it’s to vote, or
to receive their paychecks, or to obtain
prescription medication, or to receive
important documents.
And if we’re honest with ourselves, we
know that the USPS has been in fi nancial
trouble for too many years now. Little has
been done, from one administration and
Congress to the next, to keep it out of the red.
The USPS is a major employer, providing
work to more than 600,000 Americans
across the country. But the constant fi nancial
losses have put these jobs in peril, and
degraded the USPS’ functions as a whole.
Too many of us take a business approach
to the USPS, but that logic is fl awed. The
truth is that the USPS is not a business; it’s
a government function guaranteed under
the Constitution. It is not engineered, by
nature, to turn a profi t — nor is it designed
to constantly bleed red ink.
The issues with the USPS come down
to one thing: Funding. Congress, which
controls the USPS budget, provided $10
billion to the USPS through the CARES
Act, and some lawmakers now seek another
$25 billion for the agency.
But merely throwing cash at it isn’t the
answer, either; the USPS needs to be made
self-sustainable.
Congress must not allow any president to
gut the USPS, but it also needs to give the
agency more control of its own destiny. The
USPS needs greater autonomy in setting
higher prices for its services suffi cient to
protect their jobs, cover their expenses and
close their debt — without overburdening
the consumer.
Let us commit to making the USPS
invulnerable to politics by ensuring its
long-term economic health.
Op-ed
The cashless crisis
in New York City
BY DR. HAZEL N. DUKES
Earlier this year, New York City won
an important victory in the battle for
equal justice when the City Council
passed legislation requiring all businesses
to accept cash. Unfortunately, much of the
rest of the country has not taken the same
action, despite moves by thousands of large
and small businesses to go “cashless.”
This failure to protect cash threatens
marginalized communities who do not
have access to credit cards or debit cards
and who have suffered the worst consequences
of the COVID-19 economic
crisis, particularly communities of color,
low-income households, seniors, the homeless
and immigrants. Now, as our country
works to address the twin problems of
racial injustice and the economic pains
of vulnerable communities, our leaders in
Washington must work to protect cash for
all Americans who rely on it.
The trend towards card-only transactions
for routine goods and services like
a cup of coffee or a gallon of milk may
seem only like a matter of effi ciency or
convenience. However, in reality, it is just
the latest example of the banking system
exacerbating inequality and violating basic
rights out of sheer greed.
The idea that we can’t or soon won’t be able
to use cash might seem farfetched, but since
the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,
businesses countrywide have opted out of using
cash out of health concerns, even though
cash is legal tender. Misleading information
has spread across the media claiming cash
exchanges could increase transmission rates –
despite the fact that there is little proof of this
absurd claim and the World Health Organization
shot it down in early March.
The reality is, special interests are using
the pandemic to speed up the move
towards a cashless society and achieve a
future where banking fees and card-based
transactions are the only way to get goods
and services in the United States. We cannot
let this happen.
Think about what card-only policies mean
to a Black single mother trying to get a gallon
of milk for her child while she’s waiting for a
paycheck to be deposited. She may not have
the funds available on a debit card to buy that
milk. Additionally, the idea that communities
of color and other low-income communities
have ready access to safe and affordable
credit to tie them over is a misguided fantasy—
studies have long shown that they are
unbanked and underbanked at signifi cantly
higher rates than white and wealthier communities.
This mother may have put aside
$5 or $10 for the end of the week, knowing
she’d need a few items before she got paid.
And yet, in a cashless society, she wouldn’t
be able to buy them.
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
Going cashless gives banks and credit
card companies tremendous power over
your hard-earned money, where you can be
punished for not spending, saving, or banking
in-line with their rules and regulations.
The underbanked in this country
includes low-income people of all races,
but in cities like New York, it especially
means people of color, immigrants and
the homeless. The pandemic has hit these
communities harder than anyone else, with
higher death rates, more hospitalizations
and higher rates of pandemic related unemployment.
We shouldn’t allow another
injustice to be perpetrated at their expense.
The poor and underbanked in New York
are just as in need of protection as the poor
and underbanked in other areas around our
country. Robbing people of the ability to
use cash is not just a local issue, and we
need federal legislation to protect these
vulnerable Americans.
Dr. Hazel N. Dukes is President of the
NAACP New York State Conference and
a member of the NAACP National Board
of Directors
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