The Great Debate: Is systemic racism rooted in economics? Or is it a distinct, separate problem?

[gobears10]

1. Anyway this is what I think...

Right now, it is largely useless to address systemic anti-black racism without taking on economic inequality. Similarly, it is useless to address economic inequality without addressing anti-black structural racism. Making college tuition-free won't suddenly change the fact employers both consciously and unconsciously discriminate against people with "black-sounding" names, even if they are equally qualified as whites. And Sandra Bland had a college degree, yet she still was assaulted by a cop. Economic reforms won't stop racial profiling by police in stop-and-frisk, or police being 21 times more likely to kill black teens than white teens. It won't change the fact that whites and blacks use drugs at the same rates, but blacks are arrested 4-6 times as much. You have gerrymandering that creates majority-minority districts, racist Voter ID laws, the discrepancy between crack cocaine and power cocaine sentencing, the school to prison pipeline, and understaffed voting stations in black neighborhoods. Institutional racism continues to manifest itself in many ways by harming PoC while privileging whites: poor schooling, the school to prison pipeline, housing segregation, drug testing, and so forth.

Economics alone won't fix segregated schooling and housing. We need both economic and racial justice, and it is important for progressives to not view these issues as mutually exclusive, but intimately intertwined. A particularly grotesque example of racism and unfettered capitalism mixing is the existence of private, for-profit prisons. Also, white people living today didn't participate in slavery, but many do benefit from inherited wealth and power that came from a system that was openly white supremacist, whether it be slavery, Jim Crow, or the more nuanced versions of racism in other parts of the country (segregated neighborhoods and schooling).

Now, it is a tough question about whether systemic racism is mostly rooted in economic exploitation, or if structural racism is largely independent of economics and has completely different roots. I found Benjamin's argument convincing.

In my view, I think a convincing case can be made that most of "white supremacy" has is roots in economic exploitation and unfettered capitalism. Racism can certainly exist independent of economics, and it does, but most of it is intimately tied to and rooted in American-style unfettered capitalism. Due to systemic racism, you are judged by other people and institutions on the basis of your race, and we are far from a post-racial society. Our society does have white privilege built on anti-black racial marginalization, with PoC somewhere in the middle (the model minority East and South Asians face little structural racism and often benefit from positive stereotypes, but are still below whites. But latinos, native americans, and Southeast Asians are very marginalized). But the racial stereotypes on which people are judged are often based on the socioeconomic standing of the demographic group to which you belong.

You can make a very compelling argument that stop-and-risk, stand your ground, de-facto segregation, arresting PoC nonviolent drug offenders, etc., are rooted in horrible stereotypes people have of African-Americans being impoverished, prone to crime and threat, and not being as well educated as other demographic groups. That could also explain some of the racism experienced by wealthy black people when they are monitored in high end stores because security guards feel it is so unusual to see African-Americans who have enough money to purchase expensive items, and as a result, they must necessarily be thieves. That's why people clutch their purses in elevators, for both low-income and well-to-do African-Americans. That's why there's the "successful black man" meme, again, racial stereotypes based on economics.

The stereotype of African-Americans being disproportionately low-income could fuel implicit and explicit biases police officers have against blacks as well. African-Americans were also targeted by banks for subprime mortgages because they were seen as especially prone to predatory lending due to their low socioeconomic background

Ronald Reagan perpetuated much racism against African-Americans by portraying poor PoC as lazy "welfare queens." This led to welfare reforms that marginalized a lot of single women of color. The belief that PoC are poor and "underachieving" because of personal irresponsibility could definitely play a role in the paternalistic "tough-on-crime" policies of the three strikes, zero tolerance policies, mandatory minimums, broken windows policing, marijuana policing, the crack and power cocaine discrepancy in sentencing, etc. Remember the Texas pool party? That was caused by a white lady who told the black girls to go back to "Section 8 housing." Again, racism based on economic stereotypes of PoC.

Conversely, East Asians and South Asians are viewed as a "model-minority" largely due to their levels of education and socioeconomic background. I think the median income for Indian-Americans is around $100,000 in the U.S.? That certainly plays a role. But of course, they face some xenophobia, and after 9/11, Muslim-Americans regardless of socioeconomic background have faced hate crimes, serious discrimination, etc., so clearly, racism can exist independent of economics.

But yeah, city zoning laws, property-tax financed public schools, single-parent homes, etc., all are important in upward mobility. Healthcare, a lack of networking and connections, and avenues to college are extremely important. When the youth african american unemployment rate is 51%, tell me that that's not important. Affordable housing, minimum wages, jobs, education, etc., of course these are important, given that poverty causes more crime. With less crime, it'll be easier to call out cops for excessive use of force.

Economic inequality, in my view, is the most destructive force in our society, and it's something that cuts across race, sex, gender identity, etc. If you poll PoC on what issues they prioritize, jobs, the economy, healthcare, etc., top the list. The vast majority of our problems do boil down to $$$, and I think socioeconomic class is among the strongest determinants of our qualify of life (definitely stronger than race alone in my view). I think a lot of people would switch places with Chris Rock, actually, haha.

If black people had been rich and were living in the same suburban communities, you would naturally have more assimilation of children in schools, you would have people of different races working in the same jobs, you would have more conversation, more connection, more familiarity, more friendship, more compassion. Economics absolutely plays a role.

But despite the roots of systemic racism, it has grown into a entrenched problem that needs to be acknowledged and dealt with in its own right. That's why I'm 100% glad that Bernie is explicitly talking about structural anti-black racism, systemic white privilege, hired Symone Sanders as his national press secretary, and came out with a very explicit racial justice agenda. If we fixed all the economics, and if it's true that racism is ultimately rooted in economics, then maybe, maybe after many decades, institutional racism may naturally subside. But it may not. And that's a chance we can't take. We need to end institutional anti-black racism NOW, it's a national tragedy and horrible fact that African-Americans are killed at 12 times the rate of people in other developed countries. Systemic racism needs to be addressed as its own issue, and needs unique and specific solutions and beyond mere economic reforms. I like how Bernie explained it: racism and economic inequality are parallel problems that need to be dealt with jointly.