KLXVER said:
sundin13 said:
In the words of MLK Jr: "our society has been doing something special against the Negro for hundreds of years. How then can he be absorbed into the mainstream of American life if we do not do something special for him now, in order to balance the equation and equip him to compete on a just and equal basis?" Even if we were to assume that systemic racism is behind us (and it very much is not), he consistently argued for the modern leftist position of equity, not equality. You cannot simply remove the oppression from the equation, you must provide payment to the oppressed to allow them to reach equality, else you are just trading one system of oppression (race) for another (wealth). The right has tricked so many people into thinking that because MLK said "I have a dream that men will be judged on the content of their character, not the color of their skin" (to paraphrase), he advocated for colorblind policy. Such an assertion is pure nonsense. MLK Jr advocated for radical change, not just up to the point where segregation is lifted, but until the point where the black population equally shared the fruits of this country's successes. We have not reached the world MLK Jr dreamt of, largely because “The great majority of Americans ... are uneasy with injustice but unwilling yet to pay a significant price to eradicate itâ€. There was always going to be a cost. People just care more about their own comfort than they do about justice, and that hill only gets steeper as we approach equity.... |
There is only systematic racism if you believe some races are beneath others. |
Systemic racism refers to forms of racism embedded in systems that produce or perpetuate unfair treatment or oppression. It is often invisible and doesn't even require any intention or conscious decision to perform a racist or discriminatory action. Still, pretty much every system in modern society is in some fashion influenced by a degree of systemic racism, be it housing, criminal justice, education, medicine, labor, etc. Often a lot of weight from a history of more outward or obvious systemic racism has been pulled forward and is still being felt, however there still exists some weight on these systems today.
If you'd like, feel free to pick one (listed or unlisted) and we can talk about it further.
