Add college loan debt to the list of racists and homophobes in the U.S., as that was just one of several suggestions that came out of a student loan panel at Generation Progress’ 2013 Make Progress Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
“We have to acknowledge that student debt is a racial justice issue, because people of color are specifically targeted for high interest rate by companies like Sallie Mae, and companies that profit from student debt have been sued for racial discrimination,” a female participant told the progressive panelists. “Also, small-town LGBTQ youth often look towards college as a way out of unsafe, hostile communities.”
And Chris Hicks, a Jobs with Justice Student Debt Campaign organizer, agreed.
“81 percent of African-American students have debt, while only 64 percent of white students do,” he said. “If we don’t lead with that, we’re missing an opportunity to make something big.”
Hicks also said the involvement of these ‘racist’ institutions like Sallie Mae, as well as big banks, required direct action.
“What if there was a website that told you where there was a Bank of America ATM on every single college campus? And what if you had people on every college campus shut down that ATM for a single day?” Hicks asked. “We’ve seen this rise in the ’24-hour strike’ recently. We’re seeing these short bursts of energy that really highlight problems, really give people a way to engage.
“This is something that’s inspiring to people,” he added, noting that “organized mischief” in select places could help.
“Find the reddest states in the deepest South, where students are the most exploited, take some model legislation and force bad, crazy Republican Tea Partiers to have to respond to that, put them on the defensive,” he said.
Racist debt aside, Austin Thompson, the millennial coordinator for the Service Employees International Union, wondered why students were paying anything for college at all.
“Do you know how much they pay for college in France? Zero. I don’t think we should be paying for college at all,” he said. “We’re paying for school to help big companies make a profit — they should be paying for us.”
Stephen Lerner, a labor and community organizer and the panel’s moderator, concurred.
“What we’re trying to do is really change the country, right? This issue is not about how do I pay less to go to school, it’s about how do you create a country that creates opportunity,” he said.
“We’re going to win this when we get all the different groups, slowly, then get the people who aren’t active, add, add, and add, and build something that’s like a tidal wave that will sweep all the profiteers out of the way and create the opportunity for folks to be able to go to school without being indentured servants,” Lerner added.
