Biden's Executive Order on Racial Equity recognizes rural disadvantage

President Biden signed an "Executive Order On Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government" on January 20, 2021, his first day in office, and I was intrigued to see that it concerned a lot more than race.  Indeed, it includes "persons who live in rural areas" as well as "persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality."  "Persistent poverty" is a federal government term of art for counties that have experienced high poverty (20% or more) for the last four decennial censuses, and the vast majority of those counties are nonmetro.  Thus, that last category seems also to be a nod toward rural disadvantage.  

Here's the full text of the definition section, with the salient portion highlighted.  

Sec. 2. Definitions. For purposes of this order: (a) The term “equity” means the consistent and systematic fair, just, and impartial treatment of all individuals, including individuals who belong to underserved communities that have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.

It'll be interesting to see how this is actualized.  Right now, as an executive order, this appears mostly symbolic.  

Nevertheless, it reminds me that of Guinier and Torres' suggestion in The Miner's Canary that rural whites are "political Blacks" for purposes of the Texas 10% plan.  Personally, I think it's good to try to build coalitions among disadvantaged populations.