Racism in America makes everything so damn expensive.
bsky.app
Bluesky
bsky.app
A BlueSky thread by Kendra
The US used to have free to low tuition until schools couldn't discriminate based on race
skyview.social
1/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
The US used to have free to low tuition until schools couldn't discriminate based on race
[Quoted post]
Hugh Laurie (Srsly)
bsky.app
Countries with free tuition: Germany, France, Denmark, Czech Rep, Sweden, Uruguay, Turkey, Taiwan, Iceland, Austria, Finland, Greece, Egypt, India, Norway, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Luxemb., Slovenia, Mexico. Something about the next generation being the future of the country, I guess.
2/39
June Licinio 
Reagan killed it in CA back when he was governor
3/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
And when was Reagan governor of California?
4/39
June Licinio
67-75. to be clear I’m not disagreeing with you
5/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
Sorry I'm just used to people picking fights I'm too online
6/39
Russ
So weird to read a right-wing political advisor using the words "educated proletariat".
7/39
Julie Hansen
Okay, but even then... I started college in CA in 1979, and I remember people saying, "I can't believe it's free for you." And, as a poor person, I thought, it's not free, it's like $100! I was dumb. It was virtually free. (I did appreciate it later).
8/39
WindyCityGal
I went to a CA State school and got an awesome education for practically free and got out just before Prop 13 was enacted. A travesty.
9/39
echonomist.bsky.social
It cost me $250 a quarter at Berkeley 12 years after Reagan.
10/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
One of our nations issues with being unwilling to reconcile with racism means we don't really about how most of the country's social net came from the New Deal, that it was crafted to deliberately exclude Black people, and that its provisions started being too "costly" when civil rights laws /1
11/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
Started being enacted which meant Black people would finally get access
12/39
AmyAlexCA
Yup. Here in #CA, Prop13 (supported by RReagan) literally stripped funding out of public education (K-College). This happened in ‘78—ten yrs after #CA stood up low-cost QUALITY pub ed systems funded by residential + commercial Property Taxes. The GOP was all, “We don’t want EDUCATED Minorities.”
13/39
Dr. Kristina Hill
That’s crazy. Just curious where I can learn more about that history here in CA.
14/39
AmyAlexCA
Here’s one place to start. Contemporaneous news coverage also works…tho many statewide news cos archives are now Disappeared Proposition 13: 40 Years Later
15/39
AmyAlexCA
PS: Me + my Sibs (I’m the youngest of four) and our respective friends are lucky to have come thru that brief window of Taxpayer-Funded affordable, quality public ed in #CA. By the time I completed my BA at SFState (debt free) the window had slammed shut due to Prop13. #CA is NOT a Liberal Nirvana🫠
16/39
AmyAlexCA
*And #CA in 2025 is mostly a HellScape for Black residents. Newsom’s recent BS *Messaging Fail* didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s why I really was All-In on KH’s 2024 presidential bid! She KNOWS, yet was sabotaged by #BidenWorld 🫢 Opinion | Stephon Clark and the Golden State’s Shameful Secret (Published 2018)
17/39
txn1234567
people love to talk about 1968 in California but this is the first time I pegged prop13 to the backlash...in 1978. eye opening.
18/39
AmyAlexCA
True. I suck at *Self-Promotion” but if you’re able, feel free to pickup my 2011 nonfiction book on my time working in major US Journalism outlets: my #SanFrancisco origin story encompasses that era—and demonstrates why the Nat’l Press in 2025 is so obsessed with AND uninformed about #SF + #CA 🫣
19/39
carlincoalition.bsky.social
Thank you ... 100% true! I was in public high school and the effects were felt immediately. What happened in the 1980s all started in California and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who remembers it.
20/39
Canuparadigm
I remember they closed the local children's library because of that.
21/39
Canuparadigm
Yes, and guns for everyone, uh, well just white everyone's that is.
22/39
I need a new faux name
I came here to add this, thank you for getting here first and including a link.It's been my go-to "while people are so racist..." story since I read the book.
23/39
nobody-2024.bsky.social
The storyline that just keeps getting repeated under the cloak of supposed equality of an actions effect!
24/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
The number of people telling me in my comments that this isn't true when there's freely available scholarship that they can look up on Google scholar is really proving my point about how Americans are willing to point to anything but race
25/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
I'm genuinely not here to debate or hold your hand through this. I'm too Black and too tired. This isn't even my fukking beat. I'm a climate reporter. Instead of being invested in how I'm wrong do some light Googling.
26/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
Have some fukking humility and curiosity.
27/39
formertwtruser.bsky.social
Amen
28/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis
My only point in pointing this out is much like many Americans have no idea how heavily polluted the US used to be many Americans have no idea that you used to be able to go to college for free
29/39
pophouse
not only that, but back then people teaching the classes were treated with respect and were properly compensated
30/39
AdreanaLangston
In my state it was called the California Master Plan For Higher Education and it PROHIBITED Tuition https://ahed.assembly.ca.gov/sites/ahed.assembly.ca.gov/files/hearings/master plan.pdf But that was back in 1960
31/39
Steffani Cameron 
You’re 100% right. Education has become gate-keeping, period, but they’ve put barriers in so “the wrong people” can’t even get to the gate.
32/39
Pink Opal Rose
Lakes and rivers used to CATCH FIRE
33/39
MalcolmSpellman
I don’t think there’s any way to fix it other than systemic, comprehensive education. And unfortunately we’re going the opposite way on that
34/39
Ian Walsh
True enough. Without formal research, I’ve considered the post WWII GI bill and the Brown v Rockefeller race to expand NY and California university systems two of humanity’s greatest effective changes in society and knowledge, widening the higher education envelope beyond cultural elites
35/39
Gomolemo from South Central
Not sure what happened in NY, but Reagan definitely destroyed the UC and Cal State system because college students asked questions he couldn't answer and called him out on his bullshyt. We've been paying for college ever since
36/39
Ian Walsh
Also, chatting with mother the other day about early seasonal allergies, and she mentioned smoke from a fire in New Jersey (she is in Port Washington) and all I could think of was how much cleaner the air in the US is now than in 1970, when you could have had a hundred fires going without noticing
37/39
Urvi McUrvface
The white American dismantling of the public goods to prevent minorities from accessing them was so strong that decades later and people can’t even imagine those things anymore. Feels like about 95% if there’s something bad and you ask why the answer is eventually racism.
38/39
Urvi McUrvface
Thank you for your continued work in the face of willful ignorance.
39/39
The Reel Jon 
If nothing else, given how pretty much every terrible policy America has and has had ultimately stems from racism, particularly anti-BIPOC racism, why would skyrocketing tuition rates be any different?
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisThe US used to have free to low tuition until schools couldn't discriminate based on race
[Quoted post]
Hugh Laurie (Srsly)Hugh Laurie (Srsly) (@utahcornelius.bsky.social)
Countries with free tuition: Germany, France, Denmark, Czech Rep, Sweden, Uruguay, Turkey, Taiwan, Iceland, Austria, Finland, Greece, Egypt, India, Norway, Brazil, Argentina, Kenya, Luxemb., Slovenia, Mexico. Something about the next generation being the future of the country, I guess...
bsky.app
2/39
June Licinio Reagan killed it in CA back when he was governor
3/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisAnd when was Reagan governor of California?
4/39
June Licinio 67-75. to be clear I’m not disagreeing with you
5/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisSorry I'm just used to people picking fights I'm too online
6/39
RussSo weird to read a right-wing political advisor using the words "educated proletariat".
7/39
Julie HansenOkay, but even then... I started college in CA in 1979, and I remember people saying, "I can't believe it's free for you." And, as a poor person, I thought, it's not free, it's like $100! I was dumb. It was virtually free. (I did appreciate it later).
8/39
WindyCityGalI went to a CA State school and got an awesome education for practically free and got out just before Prop 13 was enacted. A travesty.
9/39
echonomist.bsky.socialIt cost me $250 a quarter at Berkeley 12 years after Reagan.
10/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisOne of our nations issues with being unwilling to reconcile with racism means we don't really about how most of the country's social net came from the New Deal, that it was crafted to deliberately exclude Black people, and that its provisions started being too "costly" when civil rights laws /1
11/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisStarted being enacted which meant Black people would finally get access
12/39
AmyAlexCAYup. Here in #CA, Prop13 (supported by RReagan) literally stripped funding out of public education (K-College). This happened in ‘78—ten yrs after #CA stood up low-cost QUALITY pub ed systems funded by residential + commercial Property Taxes. The GOP was all, “We don’t want EDUCATED Minorities.”
13/39
Dr. Kristina HillThat’s crazy. Just curious where I can learn more about that history here in CA.
14/39
AmyAlexCAHere’s one place to start. Contemporaneous news coverage also works…tho many statewide news cos archives are now Disappeared Proposition 13: 40 Years Later
15/39
AmyAlexCAPS: Me + my Sibs (I’m the youngest of four) and our respective friends are lucky to have come thru that brief window of Taxpayer-Funded affordable, quality public ed in #CA. By the time I completed my BA at SFState (debt free) the window had slammed shut due to Prop13. #CA is NOT a Liberal Nirvana🫠
16/39
AmyAlexCA*And #CA in 2025 is mostly a HellScape for Black residents. Newsom’s recent BS *Messaging Fail* didn’t happen in a vacuum. It’s why I really was All-In on KH’s 2024 presidential bid! She KNOWS, yet was sabotaged by #BidenWorld 🫢 Opinion | Stephon Clark and the Golden State’s Shameful Secret (Published 2018)
17/39
txn1234567people love to talk about 1968 in California but this is the first time I pegged prop13 to the backlash...in 1978. eye opening.
18/39
AmyAlexCATrue. I suck at *Self-Promotion” but if you’re able, feel free to pickup my 2011 nonfiction book on my time working in major US Journalism outlets: my #SanFrancisco origin story encompasses that era—and demonstrates why the Nat’l Press in 2025 is so obsessed with AND uninformed about #SF + #CA 🫣
19/39
carlincoalition.bsky.socialThank you ... 100% true! I was in public high school and the effects were felt immediately. What happened in the 1980s all started in California and sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who remembers it.
20/39
CanuparadigmI remember they closed the local children's library because of that.
21/39
CanuparadigmYes, and guns for everyone, uh, well just white everyone's that is.
22/39
I need a new faux nameI came here to add this, thank you for getting here first and including a link.It's been my go-to "while people are so racist..." story since I read the book.
23/39
nobody-2024.bsky.socialThe storyline that just keeps getting repeated under the cloak of supposed equality of an actions effect!
24/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisThe number of people telling me in my comments that this isn't true when there's freely available scholarship that they can look up on Google scholar is really proving my point about how Americans are willing to point to anything but race
25/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisI'm genuinely not here to debate or hold your hand through this. I'm too Black and too tired. This isn't even my fukking beat. I'm a climate reporter. Instead of being invested in how I'm wrong do some light Googling.
26/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisHave some fukking humility and curiosity.
27/39
formertwtruser.bsky.socialAmen
28/39
Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-LouisMy only point in pointing this out is much like many Americans have no idea how heavily polluted the US used to be many Americans have no idea that you used to be able to go to college for free
29/39
pophousenot only that, but back then people teaching the classes were treated with respect and were properly compensated
30/39
AdreanaLangstonIn my state it was called the California Master Plan For Higher Education and it PROHIBITED Tuition https://ahed.assembly.ca.gov/sites/ahed.assembly.ca.gov/files/hearings/master plan.pdf But that was back in 1960
31/39
Steffani Cameron You’re 100% right. Education has become gate-keeping, period, but they’ve put barriers in so “the wrong people” can’t even get to the gate.
32/39
Pink Opal RoseLakes and rivers used to CATCH FIRE
33/39
MalcolmSpellmanI don’t think there’s any way to fix it other than systemic, comprehensive education. And unfortunately we’re going the opposite way on that
34/39
Ian WalshTrue enough. Without formal research, I’ve considered the post WWII GI bill and the Brown v Rockefeller race to expand NY and California university systems two of humanity’s greatest effective changes in society and knowledge, widening the higher education envelope beyond cultural elites
35/39
Gomolemo from South CentralNot sure what happened in NY, but Reagan definitely destroyed the UC and Cal State system because college students asked questions he couldn't answer and called him out on his bullshyt. We've been paying for college ever since
36/39
Ian WalshAlso, chatting with mother the other day about early seasonal allergies, and she mentioned smoke from a fire in New Jersey (she is in Port Washington) and all I could think of was how much cleaner the air in the US is now than in 1970, when you could have had a hundred fires going without noticing
37/39
Urvi McUrvfaceThe white American dismantling of the public goods to prevent minorities from accessing them was so strong that decades later and people can’t even imagine those things anymore. Feels like about 95% if there’s something bad and you ask why the answer is eventually racism.
38/39
Urvi McUrvfaceThank you for your continued work in the face of willful ignorance.
39/39
The Reel Jon If nothing else, given how pretty much every terrible policy America has and has had ultimately stems from racism, particularly anti-BIPOC racism, why would skyrocketing tuition rates be any different?
To post tweets in this format, more info here: https://www.thecoli.com/threads/tips-and-tricks-for-posting-the-coli-megathread.984734/post-52211196
Struggle tangibles. Trannies and DEI out of the picture for Gawd, payment plans for freedom fries, and shytty slave jobs.
