Democracy Now! Report: "Communities of Color Bear Heaviest Burden in Recession" (w/audio and video)

Democracy Now! with video and audio:

As the rage around AIG bonuses continues to grow underscoring again the question who benefits in an economic meltdown, we look at who is hurt the worst: communities of color around the country. A new report by the Center for Social Inclusion finds that communities of color continue to be disproportionately deprived of infrastructure spending, job creation and other key government services. The report’s authors call for the government to use some of the billions in federal stimulus money to focus on the needs of communities of color.

This weekend AIG said it would pay $450 million in bonuses despite receiving a $173 billion dollar bailout that’s given the US government an eighty-percent stake. On Monday, the Treasury said it would withhold $165 million dollars from the next installment of AIG’s taxpayer money.

The AIG controversy is the latest to exemplify the near unfettered flow of government money to corporations that helped cause the financial crisis. As AIG uses the bailout to hand out bonuses, a new report says people of color continue to bear the heaviest burden in the current economic recession. According to the Center for Social Inclusion, communities of color continue to be disproportionately deprived of infrastructure spending, job creation and other key government services. The report’s authors call for the government to use some of the billions in federal stimulus money to focus on the needs of communities of color.

The report is called “One Region: Promoting Prosperity Across Race”, by the Center for Social Inclusion. Maya Wiley is the Director of the Center for Social Inclusion. She joins me now in the firehouse studio.