This is super exciting. I was disappointed by one pull quote: "This is not an experiment. African American people are not an experiment,” Thompson says. “People need to stop thinking like that, that we cannot afford the things that people in other communities have.”
The fact is: this is a poor community, and the accepted wisdom is that they can't have nice things. This is indeed an experiment to show that that accepted wisdom is wrong. There's nothing wrong with doing experiments: we do them all the time, whether it's testing drugs or the work of economists like Esther Duflo, these are crucial. And I sure hope if throws sand back in the face of those who have given up on these communities.
The fact is: this is a poor community, and the accepted wisdom is that they can't have nice things. This is indeed an experiment to show that that accepted wisdom is wrong. There's nothing wrong with doing experiments: we do them all the time, whether it's testing drugs or the work of economists like Esther Duflo, these are crucial. And I sure hope if throws sand back in the face of those who have given up on these communities.