Jeff Bezos wants to start a school for kids whose families are underpaid by people like Jeff Bezos

A free crash course in why generosity is no substitute for justice


Anand Giridharadas
Sep 23






Apropos of:
Anand Giridharadas @AnandWritesBut they’re low-income because of you https://t.co/GJ88QloOsq


Forbes @ForbesJeff Bezos announced the first Bezos Academy, a free preschool for students from low-income families https://t.co/kFyuHGZlMu by @AngelAuYeung https://t.co/73c7kOsGBF


September 23rd 2020366 Retweets1,799 Likes

I am hereby providing this free “Winners Take All” crash course for Jeff Bezos.


1. Helping cause a problem isn't a qualification to "solve" it.

2. We don't need you to give back, we need you to take less.

3. Generosity isn't a substitute for justice.

4. Pay taxes.

5. Don't bust unions and then open a school to serve people whose families don't have money because you and your friends busted unions.

6. The education of children should not be turned into a drive-through reputational laundromat for plutes.

7. Pay your taxes.

8. We don't need you to do more good. We need you to do less harm.

9. We don't need you to make a difference. We need you to stop making a killing at the public's expense.

10. We already have schools for low-income, and all, people, and they're starved because of tax avoidance.

11. If you gain money through your business, then spend some of that money on political sway to keep your business under-regulated, and then spend some of that money on philanthropy to clean your name, you are simply expanding the territory of your hegemony, not "helping out."

12. Pay your taxes.

13. Being successful at one thing, especially when it involves predatory behavior, doesn't make you successful at all things. School teachers don't waltz into Amazon telling you how to sell pens. Why do you assume you should have any say over schools?

14. When you tried to come to New York, a city that didn't need you, you sought a sweetheart tax deal that existing businesses wouldn't get. Why start a school for some poor kids while simultaneously ensuring that other poor kids' schools will be starved for cash?

15. Your concern for low-income children is admirable. One of the things low-income children tend to have in common is parents whose bosses PAY THEM TOO LITTLE. If that resonates.