All bigotry is the tool used by those with power to control those without it by giving some the illusion of power.

Gender. Race. Faith. Nationality. Social class. Wealth. Educational level. Physical/mental challenges. Whatever the excuse, bigotry is used by the few in power to keep those they consider beneath them out of power.

A bigot claims they are better than those they hold bias against. But if they were truly better, why would they need to rig the contest? Because they are lazy and don’t want to put in the effort to prove themselves better? Because they are afraid, knowing deep down that if they did not hold others back, those others would prove they are more capable, that the bigot is wholly undeserving of what they consider their due?

Bigotry keeps the bigots so busy working to make sure no one gets “what they don’t deserve/didn’t earn,” they never demand better for themselves because of manufactured scarcity.

Big corporations that squeeze their workers and diminish their product quality to provide bigger bonuses to their executives, juicer dividends to shareholders, don’t want to divert any of their profits into equal wages for equal work, living wages for their employees, benefits that people need. But they cannot claim they couldn’t afford it, so they will wield bigotry.

“Burger flippers want $15/hour?! Why should they be paid as much as paramedics?”

Why in the world are paramedics not paid more than $15/hour? Seriously!

“Women don’t deserve to get paid more than men.”

Why not?

“We can’t have a gay/lesbian teaching our children! It goes against our religion!”

Pretty sure God has an opinion on putting words in His mouth, and cherry picking a book that has been edited by men in power with agendas over the centuries is not exactly wise.

“Abortion is murder!”

“It’s their own fault for getting pregnant. They shouldn’t have had a baby to begin with. Oh, the kid has special needs? Not our problem!” Hypocrisy at its finest, right?

Today, the United States faces a reckoning for racial bigotry against Black people, and it is about time we face this. I hate to say we needed the current chaos, but we did. While we White people have grown (too slowly) to generally agree that we should not use race against people, we also have tended to justify it when it is revealed. (He must have done something wrong for the police to have done what they did.) Honestly, police and every other person needs to be held accountable when they do wrong, because a bad cop doesn’t need much of a reason to extend their bad behavior toward anyone. Black people are just done with it and filming it because we Whites just wouldn’t believe until we watched was, without question, a murder.

I do believe we need to make sure that people of color have a chance to lift themselves out of poverty because our inherent bias will always be lurking. We should be extending this to every group that “people of faith” want the right to deny of. It used to be the Christian thing to be racist towards Blacks. Still a thing to hold women as less than men. Let’s not forget how non-Protestant/non-Christians are regarded. The current day “Biblical justification” they want secular legislation for is LGBTQ+ but it’s all the same intolerance.

But not addressing wealth inequality alongside race/gender/etc bigotry will not end bigotry. It will entrench it even more because even if you are part of the ‘privileged class,’ it does not mean you have access to healthcare, education, or decent paying jobs. And the wealth gap is growing faster and faster.

Manufactured scarcity feeds the belief that for the Black/Hispanic/Woman/LGBTQ+ person to get more, it must be taken from those who have. The obscenely rich have done everything they can to convince White Male America that, no matter if they are earning a million dollars per year or below poverty level, no matter how much effort they put in, they will lose what they have or have even less chance to get what they do not.

Every American, regardless of race or gender or religious faith, deserves to have affordable healthcare. Healthcare should not be for profit to begin with.

Every American, regardless of race or gender or religious faith, deserves to have an education that lets them be productive members of society.

Every American, regardless of race or gender or religious faith, deserves to be able to support themselves and their families. Shelter and food are necessities that everyone should have access to a bare minimum, and not slum levels.

Every job that needs to be done should provide enough for the worker to be able to have all of the above. How many corporations keep their employees at part time hours simply to avoid requirements to provide benefits? How many who do have full time employees overwork them because overtime is cheaper than another body getting benefits?

How many jobs are being slashed to preserve the stockholder dividends and CEO bonuses during this pandemic?

Being a stay-at-home parent IS a job. No one should have to have a job to pay someone else to take their place as the parent in raising their child. It should be the choice of the parents to pay for childcare, not a necessity.

Maybe instead of seeing others in the same or worse position as you as a threat, it’s time to ask why you don’t deserve affordable healthcare, decent wages, accessible education, and a social safety net that will be there to not just catch you, but help you back on your feet so you don’t need it forever.

Image credit: ID 135505973 © Marcos Calvo Mesa | Dreamstime.com