The Enduring Effects of Racism

On the occasions where I interact with right wing media and see some clip of Candace Owens or read some opinion piece on reason, I often hear the same argument, racism is no longer a major contributing factor in the lives of Americans in 2020. So I want to address this, first with a little thought experiment, then I will get into more details later.

Imagine this: I come along with a gun, kidnap you, imprison you against your will, steal all of your stuff, and continue keeping you captive for many years.

After some time, I am forced to release you. I then tell you, you are free now, go make your way in the world.

You immediately go to the police and report what has happened. But instead of them doing something about it, punishing me for my crimes, or giving you compensation. They tell you “oh, enough with the victim complex. Can you get over it already!!”

Would you just shrug and say, “well I better get to work making something of myself?” Or would you feel indignant, angry, and try to demand justice? Almost everyone would do the latter… Which is exactly what black people in America have been doing for 150 years now.

Of course I know people are thinking the same cliche line, “I didn’t enslave anyone.” or “it’s been years, get over it.” Now lets go back to our thought experiment again. You are left with nothing. No justice, no money, nothing. Now imagine you have children who were imprisoned with you. Do you think the psychological scars of what happened to them would go away immediately? That their parents destitution will impact them? That the effects of their ordeal will linger on past the moment the ordeal ends? That their own children may be impacted by the damage done to their parents?

Will it matter that they won’t inherit money, property, nor will they grow up in a well funded school system?

The answer is of course, that all of that will matter profoundly. The impediments put in the way of black people in America were enormous and it is not reasonable to expect that those impediments all disappeared the moment the Civil Rights Act was passed or the moment after the Brown decision was announced by the Supreme Court.

This is especially true, since people greatly exaggerate how long ago all of this was. Yes, the Brown decision was 60 years ago, but it’s actual implementation was hard and took years, that is when and where it even happened. It was so hard, because local political leaders and schools essentially refused to comply. In Virginia for example, they went as far as to threaten to end public education entirely, rather than allow black students into majority white schools. While that never did happen across the state, it was a threat that was followed through on in multiple school districts in Virginia. There were years in the aftermath of Brown, where there were no public schools in certain areas, because communities preferred no public school to an integrated public school.

Think of the insane levels of hatred and bigotry that are necessary for that sentiment to proliferate. This was not some distant past. This was in the late 1950s and 1960s. Boston rioted in the mid 70s rather than allow busing to desegregate the schools. Detroit challenged their need to integrate their schools and brought that challenge all the way to the supreme court in 1974. This is not some unimaginable past. This was not something that impacted my great great great grand pappy in the olden days. This was a time when my parents were in school.

Now think about how social mobility actually occurs and you will start to understand why dismissal of the impacts of racism in the modern world is so misguided. Education is the best way to promote social mobility and black kids were legally forced to attend inferior schools, and when the de jure impediments to a good education went away, the de facto impediments remained.

So even in places where busing was ultimately enforced, the response was white flight to the suburbs. Again, to many White people shutting down ALL schools, selling their house and moving, or rioting were preferable to having their children attend a school with black children!! Again, think of the insane amounts of hatred and bigotry at work here. Detroit won their supreme court challenge and didn’t need to integrate their schools, white flight happened there anyways as well.

Considering the fact that educational achievement of a students’ mother, is the best predictor of educational achievement of a current student. How could this not matter? The second best predictor is socio-economic background. So, many African Americans in America had parents and grandparents who were legally forced to attend subpar schools, before being forced by circumstances to attend subpar schools, and yet some people can’t imagine how the effects of the brutality of institutional racism and white supremacy are still with us?

Since I don’t want this post to be too long, I didn’t even get into wealth accumulation through the ownership of housing mixed with the de facto and de jure housing discrimination, leading to an enormous wealth gap. I didn’t get into the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of young black people, especially black men. I didn’t get into the effects that could have on families and communities. I just addressed ONE reason why racism still matters, and by itself it is enough to explain any continued inequality between white and black people in America.

 

Tldr

Racism in policy comes strictly from the left.

 

Bravo! Well stated.

The bigotry and racism is built-into American White culture, but because it resides in the mind, we are only left with using the government as a tool to try and correct, as imperfect as it is.

 

Bad analogy. If there's a 180 year old black lady who said she is still traumatized by slavery and racism I'd believe her. But when a person is born he doesn't inherit the experiences of their ancestors. A twenty something year old would have lived through Obama years where racism towards whites were more prevalent than racism towards blacks. They don't experience slavery, Jim Crow.

 

Thanks. I agree that it is built into the culture. I also think it is important to make people realize the implications of this, which is that we shouldn't be judging people for being racist. They were raised in a racist country and that racism is learned behavior, so holding racist views isn't necessarily a sign of moral failing, but of requiring a better understanding.. We need to avoid attacking people for what they have learned and start helping them see where what they may have learned has failed them and help them try to be different.

 

Blacks are no longer discriminated against. They are discriminated in favor of. What passes for "racism" today is any accurate criticism of blacks.

 

and that's where I quit reading because I already knew everything that was going to follow... yawn

 

Such a scenario is a delusional fantasy. On top of that, I explained very clearly how the effects of that trauma are transmitted to future generations.

 

To admit to such intellectual laziness is shocking. If you don't care to read, stop bothering the rest of us by intervening with your entirely uninformed opinions!!

 

racism will never end. Blacks need an excuse for their failures and too many politicians and race-baiters need the votes and money.

 

Honestly, read the OP, then respond with substance, or don't respond at all. Your "gut instinct" on the topic has no value and the rest of us don't need to be exposed to it.

 

Thread win.

 

Last time I checked it was BLM out there burning cities and rioting. Nice try though.

 

where is the irony?

It is the antiracists who are looting, burning and vandalizing. Or do you approve of that.

In any case, the US has been white supremacist since its founding. It is the antiracists who want to tear it down.

 

Your explanation is nonsense. Racism exists today because *******s profit from keeping America divided. Everyone needs to stop being weak minded, stop blaming others for their failures, and decide to make something of themselves. Lots of people experience “traumas” of many sorts, but guess what? The world doesn’t give a flying ****. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and decide that you are stronger than the trauma. Plenty of people come to this country having actually lived through life threatening experiences, far more traumatic than hearing that your ancestor from 200 years ago was a slave, and those immigrants make a great life for themselves here, as do their children.

And for gods sake, quit telling people who do not accept your point of view about institutional racism that they are racist. It’s pathetic, and just makes people more resentful of your point of view.

 

Yeah, right....

 

Thanks for proving my point. Bunch of white people with guns and not a single thing on fire.

 

It's strictly the left that says white people need to check their privilege. Why? Do they think black people can't do anything without them

 

Because they come out at night like cockroaches.

 

Don't see any fires or babies being shot to death.

 

I don’t see anything wrong in any of these pictures. Am I missing something?

 

It's not intellectually lazy to refuse to read verbal diarrhea

Posting pontificating walls of text is a pathetic attempt to avoid discussion.

 

Far-right 'Boogaloo Bois' fanning flames of chaos in Minnesota protests, officials claim


Google the rest for yourself, not that I expect Trumpsters to actually do anything to pop their fantasy bubbles.

 

There is nothing more nefarious than white people standing around in parking lots. Oh horror of horrors!