Systemic Racism in America Exists

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Chap
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Chap »

Icarus wrote:
Tue Jul 13, 2021 3:05 pm
Why is the Right Wing media so invested in denying the reality of systemic racism?

[...]

In an act of retaliation against the banning of slavery, numerous states across the country, particularly in the South, immediately passed a litany of laws that were designed to put black people in jail for minor offenses so they could be put back to work again. For instance, they made it a crime to not have a job and the law was applied only to black men. As a result, black people were rounded up and imprisoned. They went from working on a plantation as slaves to working for the state as prisoners, sometimes freelanced out by the state to work at those same plantations. There were many other laws that were created designed to arrest and put black people back to work, but you get the point.

By the turn of the twentieth century racial segregation was mandated by law in every state. This was the period when Jim Crow laws were created to enforce segregation by all means necessary. These laws were eventually struck down in the 1954 by the Supreme Court. When that happened the "Southern Manifesto" was signed by over 100 congressmen from the South pledging to maintain all Jim Crow laws by any means necessary, and 50 new Jim crow laws were created in the process. Private white only schools called "segregation academies" (I attended one in the 80's) popped up all over the South in response to this.

Currently the average black family has only one tenth the wealth of the average white family. Why? Well, there really are only two ways to explain this. It is either a problem with the system or there is just a problem with black people. Republicans typically opt for the latter explanation because that's just a far easier pill for them to swallow since they've been conditioned to believe black people suffer because of themselves, self pity, lack of motivations, etc. But the primary reason why this wealth gap exists is because the #1 source of intergenerational wealth comes from home ownership and this has been true for more than a century. So, throughout the 20th century the Federal government created policies that intentionally left out black communities while encouraging white communities to become home owners. In 1934 the Federal Housing Administration created a risk rating system to determine which areas were safe investments for federally back mortgages. Black neighborhoods were considered too risky, and as such the practice of "Redlining" among banks caught fire. This effectively blocked black people from progressing economically. Is that not systemic? Of course it is.

After WWII the construction of suburbs exploded and much of it was restricted to "whites only." Until 1950 the Realtor Code of Ethics mandated that you could lose your realtor's license if you helped a black family move into a white community. The FHA's manual said, "Incompatible racial groups should not be permitted to live in the same communities." The FHA went on to recommend that highways would be a great way to separate the blacks from the whites. So while white families were moving into the new suburbs using federal loans, the black communities were left in the inner cities without access to those same loans. In terms of job opportunities, factories and manufacturers increasingly moved their facilities outside the city, within or closer to the suburbs which made it extremely difficult for the black communities in the city to travel to commute. Black people struggled to follow the jobs because they were prohibited from living in the white communities and only 28% of black fathers had access to a car.
[...]
I just reread this, to remind myself of the topic of the thread set out in the OP. It contains many good and well-based points, and the above are just a few of them. Jim Crow laws have left a long,long legacy.

And part of that legacy is certainly this:
Currently the average black family has only one tenth the wealth of the average white family.
The way the system described above worked ensured that this would become the case by making it much more difficult for black families to buy houses in the places where there were good jobs and decent schools. And why was that? Well, that's the way that a lot of white people wanted it to be. Let's not pretend otherwise.
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Gunnar »

Chap wrote:
Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:52 pm
I just reread this, to remind myself of the topic of the thread set out in the opening post. It contains many good and well-based points, and the above are just a few of them. Jim Crow laws have left a long,long legacy.

And part of that legacy is certainly this:
Currently the average black family has only one tenth the wealth of the average white family.
The way the system described above worked ensured that this would become the case by making it much more difficult for black families to buy houses in the places where there were good jobs and decent schools. And why was that? Well, that's the way that a lot of white people wanted it to be. Let's not pretend otherwise.
Yes. And the fact that some extraordinary blacks have managed to circumvent these deliberately imposed limitations and achieve above average success and wealth despite them does not diminish in the slightest the well documented fact of their existence and their deliberate, inherently racist intent.
No precept or claim is more suspect or more likely to be false than one that can only be supported by invoking the claim of Divine authority for it--no matter who or what claims such authority.
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Atlanticmike
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Atlanticmike »

Gunnar wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 7:28 am
Chap wrote:
Sun Jul 25, 2021 2:52 pm
I just reread this, to remind myself of the topic of the thread set out in the opening post. It contains many good and well-based points, and the above are just a few of them. Jim Crow laws have left a long,long legacy.

And part of that legacy is certainly this:



The way the system described above worked ensured that this would become the case by making it much more difficult for black families to buy houses in the places where there were good jobs and decent schools. And why was that? Well, that's the way that a lot of white people wanted it to be. Let's not pretend otherwise.
Yes. And the fact that some extraordinary blacks have managed to circumvent these deliberately imposed limitations and achieve above average success and wealth despite them does not diminish in the slightest the well documented fact of their existence and their deliberate, inherently racist intent.
Yes!!! Everyone!! Real quick, let's go to the southern border and stand at the entry points so we can warn all the people of color that America is a racist country. For some reason they don't understand how racist America and Americans are!! They must be confused.
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canpakes
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by canpakes »

Atlanticmike wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:57 pm
Yes!!! Everyone!! Real quick, let's go to the southern border and stand at the entry points so we can warn all the people of color that America is a racist country. For some reason they don't understand how racist America and Americans are!! They must be confused.
Lol. That’d be kinda racist, but you’ll do what you wanna do.

: D
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Atlanticmike
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Atlanticmike »

canpakes wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:08 pm
Atlanticmike wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 12:57 pm
Yes!!! Everyone!! Real quick, let's go to the southern border and stand at the entry points so we can warn all the people of color that America is a racist country. For some reason they don't understand how racist America and Americans are!! They must be confused.
Lol. That’d be kinda racist, but you’ll do what you wanna do.

: D
I agree, that would be racist! But that's exactly what the Progressive wackos are doing by labeling anyone who doesn't have white skin as a VICTIM of Americas past. The reason the left wants to label people as "victims" is because you can control people who believe they are victims.
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canpakes
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by canpakes »

Atlanticmike wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:32 pm
I agree, that would be racist! But that's exactly what the Progressive wackos are doing by labeling anyone who doesn't have white skin as a VICTIM of Americas past. The reason the left wants to label people as "victims" is because you can control people who believe they are victims.
1. How would you control them in this way?

2. Is this what Trump is doing at all of those rallies when he tells his fans that they’re victims of the evil Democrats?
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Chap »

canpakes wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:37 pm
Atlanticmike wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:32 pm
I agree, that would be racist! But that's exactly what the Progressive wackos are doing by labeling anyone who doesn't have white skin as a VICTIM of Americas past. The reason the left wants to label people as "victims" is because you can control people who believe they are victims.
[...]

2. Is this what Trump is doing at all of those rallies when he tells his fans that they’re victims of the evil Democrats?
Well, yes. Trump's gonna ... Trump! Ever since his inauguration speech about 'American carnage' he has been telling his supporters that they are all victims of an enormous conspiracy that is destroying their lives. Since then QAnon and others have filled them in on a lot of the details, and Trump has informed them that the election that he lost was fraudulent. Victims all.
Maksutov:
That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Mayan Elephant:
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canpakes
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by canpakes »

Chap wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 2:56 pm
canpakes wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 1:37 pm
2. Is this what Trump is doing at all of those rallies when he tells his fans that they’re victims of the evil Democrats?
Well, yes. Trump's gonna ... Trump! Ever since his inauguration speech about 'American carnage' he has been telling his supporters that they are all victims of an enormous conspiracy that is destroying their lives. Since then QAnon and others have filled them in on a lot of the details, and Trump has informed them that the election that he lost was fraudulent. Victims all.
I have to admit that I was a bit amused to watch Trumpers organize parades of oversized trucks and parades of boats to tell us how oppressed and victimized they were, while denying that systemic racism could ever exist.
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by Chap »

On the question of renewable energy resources versus fossil fuels, see:

Why did renewables become so cheap so fast? And what can we do to use this global opportunity for green growth?


SUMMARY

For the world to transition to low-carbon electricity, energy from these sources needs to be cheaper than electricity from fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels dominate the global power supply because until very recently electricity from fossil fuels was far cheaper than electricity from renewables. This has dramatically changed within the last decade. In most places in the world power from new renewables is now cheaper than power from new fossil fuels.

The fundamental driver of this change is that renewable energy technologies follow learning curves, which means that with each doubling of the cumulative installed capacity their price declines by the same fraction. The price of electricity from fossil fuel sources however does not follow learning curves so that we should expect that the price difference between expensive fossil fuels and cheap renewables will become even larger in the future.

This is an argument for large investments into scaling up renewable technologies now. Increasing installed capacity has the extremely important positive consequence that it drives down the price and thereby makes renewable energy sources more attractive, earlier. In the coming years most of the additional demand for new electricity will come from low- and middle-income countries; we have the opportunity now to ensure that much of the new power supply will be provided by low-carbon sources.

Falling energy prices also mean that the real income of people rises. Investments to scale up energy production with cheap electric power from renewable sources are therefore not only an opportunity to reduce emissions, but also to achieve more economic growth – particularly for the poorest places in the world.
The US has huge scientific and technical resources that could easily be purposed to make it the leader in renewable energy technologies. But up to now it has left the lead to China.

That means it is missing out on the many many new and long term secure American jobs that are waiting to be created in the energy supply industries that will inevitably replace coal, oil and gas, and in the new transport technologies based on the new energy sources.

Of course, if US politicians can't face persuading their voters, that will just be too bad. All the old fossil fuel jobs will go, and there will be nothing to replace them.
Maksutov:
That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Mayan Elephant:
Not only have I denounced the Big Lie, I have denounced the Big lie big lie.
huckelberry
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Re: Systemic Racism in America Exists

Post by huckelberry »

Cultellus wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:47 pm
canpakes wrote:
Mon Jul 26, 2021 3:32 pm

I have to admit that I was a bit amused to watch Trumpers organize parades of oversized trucks and parades of boats to tell us how oppressed and victimized they were, while denying that systemic racism could ever exist.
Oversized trucks are racist but government subsidized electric cars are not. America will always be racist if we do not make smaller trucks and some huge power plants that convert natural gas, coal and oil into electricity. We also need to make normal sized trucks so we can make bigger batteries so that we can have the fastest production car ever for mostly rich white people and not for not rich white people. Drilling for oil is also racist because it is black and mining for battery elements is not racist because we do not give a fook.

I saw a picture of one of those boat parades and all the people looked like they were saying systemic racism could never exist but someone was also driving the boat and not really saying anything at all about that. It was just a picture but I could pretty much tell that pancakes is right.
Despite silly talk about drilling for oil being racist I think you actually slip an interesting point in there. I hear more urge to push electric cars and less talk about where that electricity comes from. It is like certain northwest dams some folks want to breach despite the fact they produce renewable energy, in fact are good at doing that.
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