Posted on 12/23/2014 5:07:59 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In the United States, formal and informal institutions have been in place to control black bodies since before the nation’s founding. It began with slavery, followed with Jim Crow legal segregation, and has been replaced, some argue, with the criminal justice system. African Americans are disproportionately arrested and incarcerated for numerous crimes, even outnumbering whites in prisons (despite representing only 13 percent of the population). The problem with these statistics is that ostensibly, people have to break the law in order to be involved in the justice system.
This allows us to suggest, perhaps reasonably, that “it’s not about race.” Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, three unarmed African Americans recently killed by police officers, were all arguably seen as threats and may have challenged police authority. This sentiment has been repeated over and over in social media and news outlets, all with the simple message: this is not racism; these are thugs getting what they deserved.
It is the vehemence with which the “it’s not about race” argument is made that I wish to address here. Simply because overt racial prejudice has declined does not mean that racism itself has also declined in our society. Yet any claim that race matters is met with defensiveness and strong denials. This is understandable (and a good thing, in a sense) because it means that being overtly racist is not acceptable any longer. But we are living in an age in which racism is “ color blind” in that disparities are said to be caused by anything but race. The racism we live with is systemic and institutional. And while this form of racism is not necessarily as overt as someone using racist or disparaging remarks, it is likely more harmful. This means that our structures are built in such a way that makes life easier for certain races and more difficult for others.
The use of the criminal justice system as an institution of racial oppression makes structural racism invisible. This is what legal scholar Michelle Alexander calls “ color blind racism.” The fact that arrest and incarceration statistics are based on ostensibly illegal behavior allows us, as a society, to maintain control over distinct groups while claiming race isn’t a factor. So we have “ racism without racists.”
The Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice deaths and subsequent race denial happen all too often in part because of these structures. There is a long history of race disparities in institutions such as housing, education and employment. Schools are still not equal; African American children get punished at disproportionate rates, even taking “bad” behavior into account. As a society, we devalue black individuals relative to white.
Again, I am speaking about structures and institutions here, which, while composed of individuals, are separate from them. Becoming defensive or claiming that most police are not, by and large, racist misses the larger structural point. It is essential, if we are to make racial equality a real and true goal of society, to recognize that these structures exist, and to move beyond debates about whether you or I are racist. Intention, in some sense, does not matter; only consequences. As Britt Bennett recently wrote, “what good are your good intentions if they kill us?” With respect to some arrest statistics, things have gotten so out of hand that even this race-neutral explanation doesn’t hold as much water anymore; for example, as Alexander tells us, there is very little if any difference between blacks and whites in drug use, yet blacks are much more likely to be arrested and incarcerated for drug crimes.
The reality is we are all participating in a racist system in consequences, if not overt intent. And that, at its heart, is what the protests stemming from events in Ferguson and New York and on my own campus at Bates are all about. They are not an attack on you or I, but our complicity in failing to challenge these structures. And, Allan Johnson states, the ability to deny racial inequity “is especially true of dominant groups in systems of privilege, who can indulge in the ‘luxury of obliviousness.’” It is time to dispense with this obliviousness.
Gee, I believe that what we as a society cannot afford is “obliviousness” to evidence, professor. Maybe you can afford it up there in the inescapable whiteness of the Maine wilderness. There are no “hoods” in Maine I noticed when up there.
And the federal government stopped with destroying city neighborhoods, families, paying women to have children without fathers/families. Yes there is institutional racism and it is the federal government. which would destroy every family in this country. and now seeks to take over the local police. after schools, food, gasoline and fuel production, etc.
We don't teach no steenkin' grammar here at Bates.
I think when America voted for a black president, despite his woeful lack of experience and running on his rhetoric, they wanted a President who could bridge the racial divide. One who could say that America was not a racist country, and condemn those who still said that white people were still racist.
I’m afraid that only a black president could get away with telling black folks what they needed to hear about too many in their community. That they needed to stop blaming racism and police and the “white power structure” for the problems in the black community. We needed a man who could stand up and resist the divisiveness of Al Sharpton, Farrakhan, marching in the streets, and come down hard against rioters and looters without being called a “racist”.
Unfortunately we did not get such a president. Instead we got one who promoted more welfare, more food stamps, excuses for bad behavior, appointments for race, gender, and ideology instead of competence, and attacks against employers and the rule of law.
The result has been more racial division and blacks falling still further behind. How sad.
>> The use of the criminal justice system as an institution of racial oppression makes structural racism invisible.
Basically, Rocque is saying that Negroes en masse cannot adapt to the Caucasian society; thus, deserve special consideration for their behavior.
In my opinion, Blacks in America had a narrow window of time where they were respected as responsible citizens. But that window closed decades ago with the Liberal handicaps of low expectations. Regrettably, the handicaps were embraced, and the invisible chains of Liberalism took hold.
Since the Left cannot “progress” beyond the disasters it created, it lowers the bar of civility attempting to universally adjust expectations of reasonable behavior downward. This is dangerous — the dereliction allowance now being advanced by some Progressives permits justifiable muggings.
Professor,
You are absolutely right. Everyday i walk through the streets of my small city and assault police officers. I grab their guns and punch them in the face.
At first the officer is surprised and goes for his sidearm. Then, he sees my milky white complexion and just laughs at me. “Oh, it’s alright, you’re white.”
Happens all the time.
Oh, what pearls of wisdom from an ASSISTANT SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR!!! We are so indebted to you sir for dispensing your wise and deeply thoughtful words. May I suggest you take a long walk down some inner-city street after midnight next summer. Unarmed.
White libs just can't face facts...blacks commit a staggeringly, disproportionate amount of crimes.
Ding, ding, ding - we have a thread winnah!
Even Richard Pryor got it.
(Warning: Language)
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xc501v_richard-pryor-on-arizona-penitentia_shortfilms
There are more blacks than whites in prison because ... racism
There are more males than females in prison because ... crime rates.
More of the same. He’ll need race quotas in prisons to be happy - forget criminal justice.
He’ll ignore the thug culture which encourages crime and hopelessness for young blacks. He’ll ignore the fatherless homes. He’ll ignore the smash mouth race leaders like Sharpton and Jackson and the Left’s diversity race haters who drill in race doctrines hatred towards whites at every turn, literally driving some young black people fearful, racist and angry - crazy. He’ll make excuses for their crime rates and he’ll make excuses for failure to succeed - get off the welfare plantation in quotas. He’ll ignore the fact that blacks run the black schools that fail to educate blacks - upon their own demands claiming whites are too racist to educate black children.
These people are so ignorant and stupid, it hurts. They never learn and it never goes away. They call themselves educated but they are big fat liars.
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