What is Systemic Racism?

Photo: americanprogress.org

To begin, racism is when a group of people see another group as the “other” and attributes negative characteristics with that group. In America, our country was founded on racism against black people. This is a simple fact. White slave traders would sell human beings to other people and the new slave owners would work the black people near to death. The white people did not even consider the black people as human beings and would make up lies saying black people were animalistic, dirty, stupid, etc. Legalized slavery lasted for 300+ years. So of course when one race owns another one, the race in charge is going to develop the idea that they are better. Now multiply this by 300 years, and the general public is going to believe this idea and the country is going to be formed around this racist idea. This is the formation of a type of racism that is so deeply engrained in our country, that white people cannot even see it as a problem, they see it as normal life.

The very country we all live in is founded on racist ideals put forth by white people. Before the USA was the USA, black people were not legally citizens nor were they their own person – they were owned by others. So as the country began to develop, the institutions being created, were created for the white people and the people in charge. Nothing was created for black people. When slavery was finally abolished in 1865, many white people were angry and would lynch and kill any “free” black person. It was so difficult for black people to find work because nobody liked them or wanted to hire them. Because of this, they found it difficult to find a place to live and find enough money to pay for food. The white people made it nearly impossible for black people to survive.

As the 14th and 15th Amendments were passed, black people were now legally citizens and legally allowed to vote. This angered many white people so they began their attempt to disenfranchise potential black voters. Groups like the KKK sprung up to intimidate and kill black people. So even if they wanted to vote, they could’ve been killed by this terrorist organization.

To back up for a minute, black people were not allowed to vote until 1870, so before then, all of the laws in the country were set up and passed to benefit only white people. Black people had no rights. In the formative years of our country, no laws were passed to benefit black people. By the time the 15th Amendment did pass, many black people were too scared to vote. And although they were legally citizens now, the Jim Crow era of America lasted another almost 100 years. These laws passed in this era enforced legal segregation in America which further enforced the racist ideals help by our country. So although black people were no longer slaves, they were still not equal in our country.

In the middle of Jim Crow began a new form of systemic racism, redlining. Redlining is the denial of service to certain neighborhoods and communities. In America, this meant the refusal to offer mortgages to black families, regardless of their financial situation. This began after the Great Depression. After that, families could start to afford houses again but this caused a housing shortage and policies enacted under the New Deal allowed for legal segregation in housing. In fact, the Federal Housing Administration refused to insure mortgages near and in black communities. The FHA also would subsidize housing developers if they promised to refuse to sell homes to black families, making these suburban communities all white.

The process is called redlining because insurers and bankers would make maps of cities and outline parts of the cities in red ink that they thought would be the highest risk of defaulting on mortgages. There was even a federal agency called the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation that would help make these maps. If you lived in one of these red areas, you would often be denied a loan to move or renovate your home.

Redlining is so much more than just houses. What neighborhood you live in dictates the type of education you receive. And if black people and POC were only allowed to live in poorer communities, they will then receive a lesser education than their white counterparts. Since schools are funded by taxes in that neighborhood, if the community has less money the schools will receive less money. That means less funding for extra curriculars, less teachers which causes crowded classrooms, less funding for technology, and overall, just less of an education than richer communities.

The kids in these neighborhoods will then have less of a chance to get into secondary education such as college or university. And with less education, they are going to receive less pay at their jobs. Black people just have less of an opportunity to succeed in America and many scholars attribute this to the massive wealth gap between blacks and white.

America consistently offers black people less and less of an opportunity to succeed. From legalized slavery to segregation to redlining, America has made it clear that it does not want black people to do well in this country. The very institutions built in our country were created to make it harder for black people. This is what systemic racism means. From housing to education to the workplace to really everything, America makes it more difficult for POC.

Here are a few statistics and facts that further prove how systemic racism affects black people

· In 2010 Black Americans made up 13% of the population but had only 2.7% of the country's wealth

· The median net worth for a white family was $134,000, but the median net worth for a Hispanic family was $14,000, and for a Black family it was $11,000

· The median wealth for a single white woman has been measured at $41,000, while for Hispanic women it was $140, and for Black women, $120

· For the past 60 years, black unemployment has been 2x higher than white. Even in college graduates, black unemployment is twice as high

· If you have a white sounding name, you have a 50% higher chance to get a call back for a job interview

· White and Black Americans are about equally likely to use marijuana, but Blacks are 3.7 more likely to be arrested for it

· Black babies are still almost 2.5 times more likely to die before reaching their 1st birthday

· Black mothers are 3 three times as likely to die during childbirth

· Black and Hispanic mothers are more than twice as likely not to receive proper prenatal care and Native American mothers are more than 3 times less likely to receive proper care

There are so many things that I did not cover in this that black people and POC have to deal with. The US prison system and the healthcare system are two major ways in which black people are disadvantaged. Systemic racism truly affects just about everything in our country. I plan to dive deeper into a few of these ways but it is so important that everyone recognizes whatever privilege they hold and acknowledge that not everyone holds that same privilege.

Brooks, Khristoper J. “Redlining’s Legacy: Maps Are Gone, but the Problem Hasn’t Disappeared.” Www.Cbsnews.Com, 19 Feb. 2020, www.cbsnews.com/news/redlining-what-is-history-mike-bloomberg-comments/.

Domonoski, Camila. “NPR Choice Page.” Npr.Org, 2019, www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/10/19/498536077/interactive-redlining-map-zooms-in-on-americas-history-of-discrimination.

Gross, Terry. “A ‘Forgotten History’ Of How The U.S. Government Segregated America.” NPR.Org, 3 May 2017, www.npr.org/2017/05/03/526655831/a-forgotten-history-of-how-the-u-s-government-segregated-america.

“How Educators Can Break Cycles of Redlined Segregation | SchoolMint Blog.” SchoolMint, 30 Jan. 2019, www.schoolmint.com/how-educators-can-break-cycles-of-redlined-segregation/. Accessed 11 June 2020.

Smooth, Jay. “What Is Systemic Racism? [VIDEOS].” Race Forward, 22 Feb. 2018, www.raceforward.org/videos/systemic-racism.

Worland, Justin. “America’s Long Overdue Awakening to Systemic Racism.” Time, 11 June 2020, time.com/5851855/systemic-racism-america/. Accessed 11 June 2020.