A story I'v long wanted to write is that the particular hatred for the @USPS, one of our great American institutions & services, an institution mandated by the Constitution, is because its workforce is disproportionately black. I regret not getting it done https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/11/post-office-bailout-trump/#click=https://t.co/mZW9aF7jou

Yes, Republican treatment of the US Postal Service has to do with their desire to privatize government services, but I have long understood that the anti-USPS rhetoric is also racialized. 1 of 5 USPS workers is black, 40% are of color. It's been a driver of the black middle class

Government workers in general are disproportionately black because government was the first institution to ban discrimination in hiring and the mandated transparency in hiring has meant that black people had better chances landing those jobs than jobs in the private sector.

The USPS is not meant to be highly profitable. It is meant to provide a public service in every community, no matter how poor or how remote. FedEx and UPS do not have that mandate and often USPS delivers their packages in rural and remote areas.

Still, we're fed the lie that the USPS is poorly run, unable to innovate and cannot turn a profit, and yet Congress has forced the USPS into unprofitability. This excellent thread by @MehrsaBaradaran explains why. https://twitter.com/MehrsaBaradaran/status/1248749922121203712

And this excellent thread points out all the lies about the USPS -- like, IT IS NOT TAXPAYER FUNDED. Further, if you think FexEx will ever allow you to send a letter across the country for 55 cents, let's just admit you are delusional. https://twitter.com/lildipshit3/status/1248741868440940544

If the USPS is bankrupted, we will lose a vital PUBLIC SERVICE, thousands and thousands of unionized, middle-class jobs in black and brown communities and a service unlike any other in the nation. We must not allow this to happen.

*My language was not accurate: The Constitution empowers Congress to establish postal service, it does not mandate it to.

How black is the nation? 13 percent. Do you know what proportional means?