How do we solve racism? This one of the most prevalent questions facing society today and one with no easy answers. I have always been of the opinion that the only way to solve racism is with time, but unfortunately sometimes time moves too slowly. People of color in America face hurdles that white America may recognize but will never truly understand.
It would be hard to argue that the 2000s have not been the best time to be black in America, but the positive trend in race relations over the past fifty years has yet to come close to putting all Americans on equal footing. The National Poverty Center estimates that 27% of blacks and 26% of Hispanics live in poverty compared to less than 10% of whites. Blacks in this country are incarcerated at approximately six times the rate of their white counterparts. In fact, Blacks and Hispanics comprise 58% of the prison population despite making up only 25% of the overall population. These are objective facts that, when examined, show that something needs to change.
We do not live in a caste system, yet too often being born black limits the trajectory of one’s life through no fault of their own. The United States government has put forth two main arguments about the changes needed to solve the race issue; the liberal argument for government programs to focus on improving economic disparity thus bringing a more level playing field to the disproportionally impoverished communities of color. Second the conservative argument that the black communities need to be more moral (less out of wedlock children, commit less crime). Both of these arguments are overly simplistic in the way they go about addressing race in America.
The liberal argument focuses solely on finances without addressing what Cornel West has described as “black nihilism.” This is the feeling of hopelessness within the black community who watch their communities crumble and wait for a word from their government which has never come. They have watch the young black men of their communities fail to thrive. They them arrested and killed by their brothers or too often by the officials that are there to protect them. Simply adding or amending government programs will not change the mental state of the black community nor will it win the trust back from those who have lost faith in a system which seems rigged against them.
The conservative argument is straightforward. Some would argue that we already live in a “color blind” society (Ronald Regan for example). Most state that all you need to make a good life in America is the work ethic and good sense to stay out of trouble. Rates of teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts, and crime in the black community are often used as sources in the discussion. However, these arguments completely ignore the circumstances surrounding these statistics. The failing of inner city schools and the lack of industrialized jobs, which were once the backbone of the inner city income, have led to a lack of education opportunities and a lower median income of inner city families. The idea that if you work hard you can do anything no longer holds true. The United States ranked 13th in social mobility in a study done by the Economic Policy Institute. This combined with the increased cost of college make higher education harder to obtain for someone from a poorer family. This in turn leads to lower wage jobs thus perpetuating the cycle of poverty which has ravaged black America.
There is no easy answer about how we as a county move forward, but to deny that there is racism in America is the new racism. We as a society need to have the conversations about race which make us uncomfortable. We need to hold our leader accountable for the problems facing our future. We need to check our personal prejudices at the door and remember that we are all just human and deserve a shot at life. Most importantly we need to hold ourselves accountable every day for the actions of our government. As Cardinal Roger Mahony said, “Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members. The last, the least, the littlest.”
