The Gig’s Up (This Black-Ass Life)
Welcome to the 50th installment of This Black-Ass Life. For this big number, we wanted to talk about the gig economy and how it plays its workers, and share a throwback text from an unimpressed Black-Ass Mama.
Don’t forget: We've managed to grow this list thanks to y'all forwarding to friends so please keep it up! Forward this link to subscribe to five friends. And send us topics you'd like to see covered, texts from your Black-ass people, and any Black-ass anything from around the world and web.
l. The Facts
This past week, California's Governor signed a law that made app-based companies treat their workers as employees, not contractors. This bill seeks to upend the gig economy, which is blamed in some part for the disintegration of traditional 9 to 5 work.
By next year, 50% of American workers will work in some capacity as independent contractors. This means that one of every two workers will freelance, either as their primary source of employment or in addition to other employment. This is due in part to the gig economy.
Gig economy is a classification of jobs that are on app-based platforms that provide work in bits and pieces (i.e: making food deliveries, driving or cleaning homes).
The gig economy sucks for workers because gig companies flout local and national regulations, make workers disposable, hinder collective bargaining and unions, and have provided a way for companies to avoid paying basic benefits and overtime.
Why does it matter?
People of color are more likely to be in work arrangements that are lower paid and offer less flexibility than White workers. Overall, 27% of Black workers earn money through the gig economy, compared to 21% of White adults. The gig job is the primary source of income for 55% of Black people working in the gig economy.
The gig economy sucks for Black workers in many different ways:
Until very recently, Doordash and Instacart were actively stealing tips;
Not that Black workers were actually getting that much from tips since both implicit and explicit bias is pronounced on platforms. For example, Black laborers using TaskRabbit and Fiverr received more negative reviews, which feed into the algorithms that power gig companies (and we know AI is racist).
Negative reviews are especially detrimental for those driving for rideshares. By the way, rideshares also suck for Black riders. A study found that those with “Black-sounding” names face longer wait times and more cancellations.
What can my Black-ass do?
Be disruptive! To protest changes being rolled out by Uber and Lyft, more than a thousand drivers led a caravan that brought rush hour traffic in New York City to a virtual standstill.
Learn about and support the Independent Drivers Guild.
Note which of the apps actually allows their “contractors” to keep their tips.
Find more information and organizations you can support that are organizing gig economy workers here.
ll. Other Things
Niecy Nash is one of the most underrated Hollywood beauties.
ALL HAIL BILLY PORTER.
NOPE, not crying, just cutting onions. We are so proud of you Jharrel Jerome! Congratulations!
A moment of appreciation for Niecy Nash.
The Raising Dion trailer is out. The show still looks good but the lightening of the cast since the original trailer makes us sad.
Don’t miss Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty Show if only for Normani’s flawless performance.
Watch Styling Hollywood.
Keke Palmer, Kayla Nicole, and a singing Tekashi bring us the perfect memes.
Bette Midler asked Beyoncé to have her whole hive fix what her sistren did in 2016.
Speaking of Bey, it took some time, but she finally has the wax figure she deserves.
And to honor another queen, please read: I Am Still a Part of the Rhythm Nation 30 Years Later and That's Alright With Me.
Love After Lockup Report.
The best show on television. We have questions:
Why doesn’t Angela get with her nice friend from grad school, Tommy?
Does Glorietta really believe Alex is the next Justin Bieber?
When is Amber going to call it a day on Captain Adopt-an-Adult Vince?
How will Lacey choose between John and Shane?
Our Black-Ass song(s) of the week (Mitu):
I saw Maxwell play with the National Symphony Orchestra last week and I can’t stop thinking about it so here is Ascension.
Things we are looking forward to / things we are not looking forward to:
I (Jumoke) look forward to all of you in D.C. going to go see School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play. My friend Love and I LOVED it. Ghanaian accent was trash tho, but ALL African accents in popular media are trash.
I (Mitu) look forward to consuming all of the Bon Apetit videos. I know I’m so late to them, but that YouTube channel is truly perfect.
I (Jumoke) love that I got to something hip before Mitu!
lll. A Throwback Text from a Black-Ass Mama
For our 50th newsletter, please enjoy this throwback text of my (Mitu’s) mama finding out about Ne-Yo.
Stay Black, thrive, and always tip. We’ll hit your inbox next on October 7.