Tourists taking a stroll around the national monuments this past weekend might have wondered what horrible crime was committed by a group of black teenagers sitting handcuffed and detained on the sidewalk. But while imaginations may run wild, the truth of the matter is extremely tame; the only offense these teens were guilty of was selling bottled water without first asking the government for permission.
If this seems like an overreaction on the part of law enforcement, that is because it absolutely is. However, this over-enforcement has become all too common when it comes to youthful attempts at entrepreneurship. During the hot summer months when school-aged children are liberated from their oppressive classrooms, many have discovered the wonders of capitalism only to be shut down by local authorities.
Just a week prior to this appalling scene, a similar instance occurred in the neighboring city of Baltimore, Maryland. A group of young black children, still donning their school uniforms from earlier in the day, were selling snow cones in their community, until police shut them down for not obtaining the proper permits. While these young children were fortunate enough to not have been placed in handcuffs, this national crackdown on child-run businesses is having a far worse impact on the communities where the self-sustaining entrepreneurial spirit is needed the most.
In the District of Columbia, 26 percent of its black residents are below the national poverty line. Equally dismal, for those black residents living in Baltimore, Maryland, 27.6 percent are considered to be living below the the poverty line. And yet, rather than encouraging these communities to become self-sufficient, the state is penalizing those who have the most to gain from entrepreneurial endeavors.
Whether it’s selling lemonade on a neighborhood street corner or, like the young men detained in D.C. this weekend, selling cold bottles of water to overheated tourists, local law enforcement has cracked down and and penalized minors who would dare start a business without first obtaining a government license. However, in other areas, specifically more affluent communities where the level of those living below the poverty line are not quite as high as Baltimore and Washington, D.C., you will rarely find young entrepreneurs placed in handcuffs for making a few extra dollars.
Perhaps, this is what makes the scene on the national mall this weekend so horrific. Officers on the scene claimed that this extreme measure taken against these teens was done in order to ensure police safety, exemplifying yet again how members of lower socioeconomic communities are constantly facing state obstacles.
Not only are these licensing laws not doing anything substantial to actually protect consumers, they are disproportionately impacting the most economically vulnerable communities in negative ways. And as a result, the vicious cycle of poverty becomes incredibly difficult to escape.
For most of these young entrepreneurs, it never once occurred to them that they would even need such a thing before engaging in the economy. And who can blame them? In addition to these permit requirements being absolutely meaningless, the public school system has done nothing to foster an environment where young Americans are encouraged to go out be active participants in the economy.
Brittany Hunter is an associate editor at the Foundation for Economic Education. This column was edited for space. Read the entire post at fee.org.