The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Systemic Racism in America

At the turn of the 20th century, America was a bigoted and discriminatory place for Niggers, Chinks, Mackerel Snappers, and Micks, later in the century to included Kikes, Polacks, Wops, Spics, and Japs, as defined in the  List of ethnic slurs by ethnicity and List of religious slurs on Wikipedia. I deliberately utilized these offensive and pejorative words to accentuate the essence of American bigotry and discrimination of the time. We were, in those times, a systemic (affecting an entire system) discriminatory nation of Jim Crow Laws, Separate but Equal institutions, public facilities access and usage, employment and promotion practices, Entertainment and Sports personages, etc., all fueled by an undercurrent of white European and Protestant superiority, as well as a reaction to an influx of immigrants from other nations, ethnicities, races, and religions.

Wikipedia defines Systemic Racism as:

“a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, health care, education, and political representation.”

Many claim that America is the most racist country in the world. This may be true, but I think not, as America has made great strides in eliminating systemic racism, as well as eliminating racism in the hearts and minds of most Americans. There is also the fact that America is the most diverse nation in the world and in history, except perhaps the Ancient Romans, and therefore racial tensions are greater in America than in the rest of the world. As the rest of the world is less racially diverse, racial tensions in those countries are not a significant factor in their society.

The history of bigotry and discrimination in 20th century America is reflected in my own family's personal history. My paternal grandfather was born in 1900 in the United States that was bigoted against blacks and discriminated against the other groups that I have previously mentioned. My grandfather grew up believing that blacks were intellectually and morally inferior and that the other races were only slightly better. As such, he was a bigot. The good thing about my grandfather was that he believed that all people should be treated politely and respectfully. His beliefs were expressed inside his own home and never expressed outside his house, and he never used pejoratives in discussing persons or groups. Indeed, he would not allow others around him to utilize pejoratives or to be anything other than polite and respectful to others, and he would often chastise anyone who was not polite or respectful. My father took on his father’s opinions, except he did not believe that blacks were inferior, only lazy and that the other groups were culturally unable to achieve their full potential. As such, he was prejudiced. However, like my grandfather, he also grew up believing that all people should be treated politely and respectfully, and he would never utilize pejoratives nor allow others around him to be anything other than polite and respectful to others. I am happy to report that he had a change of heart later in life and lost most of his prejudice. I, on the other hand, grew up with no consideration of bigotry or prejudice. I had Jewish friends, Catholic friends, Italian friends, a black friend, Polish friends, and I was friendly to anybody who was friendly to me. I enjoyed learning about their culture and history, not to mention the gastronome delights of their culture. I guess you could call me neutral (but mostly unaware) as regards to bigotry or prejudice. I was too young to be involved in the Civil Rights movement but supported it when I matured. As to my daughter, she has no problem dealing with anybody anyway, shape, or form. Bigotry or prejudice, or discrimination are abhorrent to her, and she actively opposes it. This pretty much describes the evolution of American Civil Rights in the 20th century, but there are always people who are left behind or choose not to move forward, and we should not tolerate their bigoted or discriminatory words or deeds.

Much has been said about Systemic Racism in America today. There is, of course, racism in America, as racism is inherent in human tribalism. All societies and countries throughout history and across the globe have exhibited racism. The important word in Systemic Racism is Systemic - affecting an entire system. Therefore, the question is racism in America systemic? In our history, this has been true, but starting with the Civil Rights movement in the 1950’s American has attempted, and mostly achieved, the elimination of the systemic aspects of racism in America. Blacks, Women, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians in the latter part of the 20th century and the 21st century are well represented in all aspects of American society, government, and business. To prove this, let the facts be submitted to a candid world:

• A Black Man was elected to the Presidency of the United States twice.
• A Black Woman was elected to the Vice-Presidency of the United States.
• A white woman is The Speaker of the House, and many Blacks, Women, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians are elected House and Senate representatives, as well as being Committee leaders, as shown by the “Membership of the 117th Congress: A Profile” report.
• Many Blacks, Women, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians were and are Cabinet Members and Executive Officers.
• Nearly proportional representation of Blacks and Hispanics in the House of Representatives and Senate.
• Many Blacks, Hispanics, and Women as Governors and Mayors of our States and Cities.
• The number of Justices and Judges in the Federal, State, and Local judiciaries approaches the diversity of the American population.
• Majority minority police officers in our major metropolitan areas, as well as Black and Woman Police Commissioners and in the command ranks in those metropolitan areas.
• An over proportional representation of Blacks and Hispanics in Professional Sports, Performing Arts, and the Entertainment businesses.
• Many Colleges and Universities have diverse Blacks, Women, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians as professors.
• Throughout American businesses, Blacks, Women, Hispanics/Latinos, and Asians have risen in the ranks of workers and management.

Therefore, the systemic problems of racism and discrimination that I mentioned earlier no longer exist in America. Instead, we have the problem of exploitation of racism for political purposes. If you listened to Democrats at their 2020 Presidential Convention and throughout 2021, you would think that America is a dark and gloomy place filled with systemic racism, police misconduct, injustice, patriarchal hierarchies, oppressions, and inequalities. They paint a dystopian picture of America, with the only salvation being the election of Democrats and the implementation of their political agenda. It is no wonder that they appeared angry and depressed, as everybody should be angry and depressed in a dystopia. While some small part of these ills may be true, it is mostly true in those places in America that have been under Democrat Party control for decades.

And the Democrat Party has a long and bitter history of racism, as I have pointed out in my Articles, “Slavery and Discrimination Rooted in Party Politics” and “Democrats: The Party of Systemic Racism”. This Democrat Party racism has morphed from overt to covert by the modern Democrats proclaiming themselves as champions in the fight against racism, but their actions reveal the true nature of their racism. The very social programs and policy agendas that they support in this supposed fight against racism are based on racial identity and the bigotry of soft expectations based on race. Social policies that favor one racial group over another are racist, social policies that expect less from one racial group or another are racist, and social policies that place guilt or victimhood on one race or the other are racist. And these social policies are the agenda of the Democrat Party.

They also do this by improperly utilizing statistics, as I examine in my Article, "Oh What A Tangled Web We Weave". An example of this is to infer systemic racism just because, as a class, young black men are stopped, arrested, prosecuted, and incarcerated at rates that "over-represent" their roughly 15 percent portion of the total U.S. population. The relevant metric is not the population portion. What matters is offensive conduct. It is simply a fact that, as a class, young black men break the law at higher rates than other demographic groups. We know that based not on police observations but on victim reports - reports that also tell us black people are victimized by crime at unacceptably high rates. And the root cause is not systemic racism in America, but the actions of individuals that often feel that they are victims of the false narrative of Systemic Racism in America.

They commonly misuse statistics by focusing on results rather than determining causes. Their favorite statistic is disparate-impact analysis, which looks at results rather than causes. The law recognizes two types of illegal discrimination. Disparate treatment refers to intentional discrimination, where people in a protected class are deliberately treated differently. This is the most common type of discrimination. Disparate impact refers to discrimination that is often unintentional. The procedures of the two types of discrimination are the same for everyone, but people in a protected class are negatively affected. However, the manner in which you collect and analyze the data will skewer the results of the disparate-impact analysis result. Or, as been said:

"If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything."
  - from Darrell Huff's book "How to Lie With Statistics" (1954)

They also focus on Equity rather than Equality (as I have defined in my "Terminology" webpage on "Equity and Equality") when asserting Systemic Racism in America. In the context of social systems such as education, politics, and government, the terms equity and equality have similar but slightly different meanings. Equality refers to scenarios in which all segments of society have the same levels of opportunity and support. Equity is the concept in which all segments of society have the same or nearly the same outcomes of equality. Equity is most nefarious in that the ‘equality of outcome’ takes precedent over ‘equality of opportunity. Therefore, with Equity, you have discrimination for persons or groups rather than against persons or groups.

By focusing on Disparate-impact analysis and Equity, it may appear that you have Systemic Racism in America. Any society that allows individuals to achieve their potentialities’ will result in inequalities, as each person has different intelligence, knowledge, experience, hard work, motivations, talents, skills, and abilities that lead to different levels of achievement and the appearance of inequity.

Many Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders believe that America is racist because many Americans disagree with their policies and agendas regarding the issues and concerns of black America. But disagreement is not inherently racist; it is simply a disagreement about what are the best policies for America to help many black Americans to rise above their current circumstances and share in the economic bounty of America. Indeed, the excessive rhetoric of racism in America by Progressives/Leftists and Democrat Party Leaders, with little rational and reasonable foundation, only furthers the (false) impression of systemic and widespread actual racism in America. And most of these charges of racism in America are for the cynical derisive purpose of dividing America to garner the black vote for Democrat politicians and Progressives/Leftists Ideology and Ideas.

The real problems of race in America are not racism, but are "Systemic Family, Education, and Faith Problems" and "The Problem is Systemic Liberalisms & Progressivisms", inflamed by "The Biggest Falsehoods in America". Problems that are fueled by Democrat Party Leaders, Progressives/Leftists, Mainstream Cultural Media, Mainstream Media, Modern Big Business, Modern Education, and Social Media for political purposes.

Consequently, the accusation of Systemic Racism and actual racism in America is fraudulent and needs to be countered everywhere and anywhere it is asserted. To do otherwise is to allow for the unjustified disparagement of America and the polarization of Americans.