JimC wrote:Forty Two wrote:JimC wrote:The real point is in the damage that systematic racism has done over the years. It is one more way of a group cementing power, and keeping other groups down. It is also an inescapable fact that most of the systematic racism, benefiting some and injuring others, has been white racism against black, brown and yellow. This is simple historical fact, and a fuck of a lot more important than empty arguments about inner feelings of tendencies to racism...
Sure, but there is very little, if any, "systematic" racism in the US anymore. We have worlds less racism than in the 1950s and 60s. There are certainly racists out there. And, that's, unfortunately, a price to be paid for living in a free society. People get to think and say what they like, even if it's racist.
But, systemic or systematic? There is legal machinery that is set up to remove racism from government, from the workplace, and from public life in general. If there are any preferences at all, they are affirmative action preferences in favor of women and minorities.
A racist today is anathema, a legal and cultural pariah. Do you ever see any public support for a racist, other than the 12 guys in his group of white pride protesters? You won't see it in the media - you'll see universal condemnation. You won't see it in politics - as all politicians disavow racism and racists. The only thing really you'll see is a discussion of whether it's o.k. for people to do violence against the racists, because they're racist. You'll see university protests and discussions saying that free speech involving racist ideas (or even just allegedly racist ideas) is itself violence.
Clearly overt racism has declined in the US, but it lingered on in the South for a long time after the civil war, as you well know; segregation, Jim Crow laws, etc. The systematic part still remains in the way your voter registration laws work in practice, and there are plenty of far-right groups openly displaying racist policies.
But granted that overt racism is generally regarded with opprobrium, the fact remains that the consequences of systematic racism in the past have left the black population in the US considerably disadvantaged in comparison with whites, statistically.
Look, our voter registration laws are not racist at all. People just go and register. There is no barrier to blacks getting registered to vote. We do nothing more onerous than any other first world, industrialized, western country.
There are plenty of far right groups in Europe, Canada and Australia, too. That's what a free country allows. Freedom of political thought, even for distasteful people. There are also black racist groups, like the Black Panthers and African separatist groups like Farrakhan's racist and antisemitic group. The number of American in white supremacist groups like the KKK or Aryan Nations is in the 5 figures -- a few thousand. Out of a country of 330 million. How many racists do you think y'all have in Oz? What with your history of abominable -- systemic -- treatment of black aborigenes? Or, have you totally resolved all racism in your country, such that you have no individuals and groups who are racist?
The US is about as racist as Canada and Oz. European countries have plenty of racists in them -- look at Austria. Look at France - Le Pen, right? Look at the rise of nationalist groups in Germany. What about Hungary?
There are, racists, of course, but neither those countries, nor the US are systemically racist anymore - and racism is culturally despised. Racism today is primarily in Africa and Asia - and if you want to see real "systemic" racism today, you have a better chance of seeing in South America. Brazil fired their Carnival queen for being too black.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/ ... -0038.html
It's the Enlightenment West that has managed to eliminate racism, except in a small percentage of jackasses. And, the West certainly does not allow government or employment or education-related racism. Private racism is generally allowed in free countries, as it must be in order for there to be liberty of thought. But, to say that the US has system that's racist is absurd. The kind of things claimed to be racist are things like "having to show identification" (because supposedly black people are less able to get identification) -- however, we have Identification laws that require people to show identification to police, and to stores when alcohol and cigarettes are purchased, and to drive cars. Yet, nobody says such requirements are racist, even though blacks are supposedly less likely to have such identification documents. Why is that? I mean, if blacks are less able to get driver licenses, then isn't the requirement to get a driver license to drive just as racist as requiring an ID to vote?
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar