*With Donald Trump’s government shutdown now in its fourth week, new data reveals Black federal workers, in particular, are being hit hardest by the president’s petty hijacking of the nation.
Per Atlanta’s 11 Alive News:
According to numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, African-Americans historically make up a higher percentage of federal workers than they do in the private sector.
Data shows African-Americans make up around 13 percent of the U.S. population, and make up about 10.5 percent of the civilian workforce. However, they make up 18.4 percent of the federal workforce.
Where it makes a financial difference in terms of the shutdown – black families have a fraction of the wealth of white families. According to the Census Bureau, for every $100 a white family earns, black families only earn $6.
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As the shutdown enters its fourth week, federal workers are struggling to make ends meet. But according to reporter Jamiles Lartey, it’s having a disproportionate effect on black workers and their families. https://t.co/FcQVDYZYQk
— NPR (@NPR) January 15, 2019
So what does that mean when black government workers start missing a paycheck?
Jamiles Lartey, a reporter with The Guardian, broke it down to Ari Shapiro of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
The profound racial wealth gap in the U.S. makes it far more difficult for the average black American to sustain a long period without a paycheck, as compared with white Americans.
We should note that that disparity in wealth is probably much less acute among federal workers. We don’t have numbers of black federal workers’ wealth versus white federal workers’ wealth. It’s probably much closer than the broader disparity. But overall, black Americans are less likely to have friends, family, networks, access to credit, you name it. Things that will help you survive a period without a paycheck, they’re less likely to have it.
Emory political science professor Andra Gillispie said, “Blacks and Latinos have far less wealth, which means in a crisis, you don’t even have the savings to dip into which will put people in a more precarious situation.”
Gillispie also noted that Black government contractors most likely won’t recover the lost pay after the shutdown ends.
Are TSA Officers Playing Explicit Rap Songs Over Airport Speakers Amid Government Shutdown? https://t.co/ZT41ipC0Br
— People (@people) January 17, 2019
In related news, TSA agents who are forced to work without pay are reportedly playing explicit rap music at arriving passengers in New York’s JFK Airport.
One Twitter user wrote, “TSA has officially stopped giving a f—. SICKO MODE (dirty version) is playing on the speakers at JFK lmfaooo,” referencing the Travis Scott and Drake collaboration, PEOPLE reports.
“Knowing that our man Kanye’s masterpiece poop diddy woop scoop was blasted through jfk airport by tsa today at 6:30 AM IS THE FUNNIEST THING IVE HEARD,” tweeted another in reference to the bizarre lyrics on Kanye West’s track “Lift Yourself.”
A TSA spokesperson tells PEOPLE, “TSA doesn’t have access to the public address system at JFK, I have been advised that the system is accessed by the individual operators and the [Port Authority of New York and New Jersey].
TSA has officially stopped giving a fuck. SICKO MODE (dirty version) is playing on the speakers at JFK lmfaooo
— lsdipalma (@LSDiPalma) January 9, 2019
