Ohio’s GOP Budget:
The Quiet Violence of "Good People"
By Vix Burgett-Prunty
In The Unspoken Burden, we explored a painful paradox: Many white Americans recoil at being called "racist," yet enable policies that ravage marginalized communities. Now, Ohio’s House GOP is offering a masterclass in this disconnect. Their latest budget slashes public school funding, guts library resources, and shovels public money into a billionaire’s stadium, all while insisting, "This isn’t about race."
But let’s be clear: Systemic harm doesn’t require hoods or slurs. It thrives in boardrooms and budgets, where "fiscal responsibility" becomes code for preserving racial hierarchies.
"We Care About Kids" (Unless They’re Poor or Brown)
The GOP’s proposed $1 billion cut to public schools will hit Ohio’s poorest districts hardest, disproportionately Black, Latino, and Appalachian white communities. Meanwhile, Ohio’s suburban (and whiter) districts, with robust property taxes, will weather the storm.
This is the violence of "good intentions." No legislator will say, "We’re defunding Black kids." Instead, they’ll frame it as "local control" or "efficiency." But when European Americans look away as schools crumble, while voting for the politicians who orchestrate it. What does that make us?
Libraries: The New Battleground for White Comfort
House Republicans also want to micromanage school library spending, a barely veiled attack on books about race, LGBTQ2S+ lives, or anything that challenges the "America is fair" myth.
This isn’t about "protecting children." It’s about protecting whiteness from discomfort. When we let politicians erase marginalized voices from libraries, we’re not "neutral." We’re choosing silence over justice.
Stadiums Over Schools: The Priorities Test
And then there’s the $600 million handout for the Cleveland Browns’ stadium, pushed by the same lawmakers who claim "we can’t afford" fully funded schools.
Ask yourself: Who benefits? Billionaire owners (white). Who pays? Taxpayers (many of whom are Black, brown, and working-class white). This is colonialism in a football jersey and if we don’t name it, we’re complicit.
The Burden of Complicity
European Americans often say, "I’m not a monster!" But monsters are easy. The harder truth? You don’t have to hate to harm. You just have to prioritize your comfort over equitable funding, over honest history, over collective justice.
At EAGER, we’re reconditioning that instinct. Because accountability isn’t about guilt—it’s about stopping the harm we didn’t realize we were enabling.
#BeEAGER #JoinEAGER
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