Race and Class Based Approaches to Local Economic Development

Betancur and Giles ( )note four dynamics that are in creative tension when the matter of race and class are considered as factors in Local Economic development.

  1. Programs are tailored to Individual persons, and therefore are supposedly "color blind", or else they are tailored to identifiable minority groups. The tension here relates to the conflict between philosophies that view the individual as the focus of assistance or development, as opposed to the group. What the group advocates claim is that assisting the individual would be all well and good if it were not for the fact that whole sub-groups are under-represented in the top levels of society. Assisting individuals creates a brain drain, splits what little "strength in numbers" the minority has, and buys off real reform with "tokenism".
  2. Programs favor geographic dispersal of visible minority groups, or else they favor assisting concentrations of visible minorities.
  3. Programs favor "majority" control or else "minority" control. Here, the problem is with the dominance of the majority group who are not usually the marginalized, and don't have to suffer the consequences of the decision which the minority often do have to suffer.
  4. Programs which are growth as opposed to those which are equity oriented. Here the frustration with "grow now , trickle later" is that the trickle rarely comes, or if it does, it lives up to its label, a "trickle"

These four tensions tend to play themselves out in the three types of action listed below, as people facing racial or class based depravation seek to develop their local economies for the betterment of all.

It is no accident that the Institutional Church and faith-life play such a large part in the lives of oppressed minorities. It is "good news for the poor", and not just in an "opiate for the people" sense. The Christian Church was heavily involved in changing the situation for the Afro-Americans in the United States. It has also been heavily involved in the plight of the First Nations people in Canada over the years. It is obvious today with all the lawsuits against the Churches for their efforts, why the Priest and the Levite passed by the fellow lying beaten up by the side of the road in the Biblical story. It is generally better on one's pocket book in both the long and short term not to get involved.

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