Racism in Brief

 The horror of slavery in the US was ended in roughly 1865. Jim Crow included laws which enforced discrimination against Blacks. It ended in roughly 1965. The easy part of ending discrimination against any group is to change the laws. Today I believe that in a great many areas of life, if any Black person can prove that they were discriminated against on account of race, they can likely win a court case. In a great many subcultures of the US, it is prohibited to state any racist views.

The racism that's left -- and there is plenty of it -- is the kind that is harder to remedy. Much has to do with attitudes and assumptions. Much is hard to prove, and much is unconscious. Some is just plain tribal in nature -- white supremacist groups presumably have considerable backing within the population at large.

Combating racism has come to be central to the liberal agenda. A fair number of people think it is THE social issue that must be addressed. Unfortunately, it is one of the many problems in life where progress is limited despite how earnestly you want to solve it and how much effort you put into it. Unfortunately, I think the earnest and loud calls to end racism will be heard primarily by unsympathetic people and convey the wrong message. Sympathetic whites will react to the message by reducing their micro-aggressions. Unsympathetic whites will go right on with their macro-aggressions, and might increase them.

I do not have any sympathy for those who actively seek to make Blacks uncomfortable or worse. I find the idea highly repugnant. Yet I know such people exist. Human psychology suggests they will continue to exist in large numbers. The economic prospects of working class whites have been getting worse in recent decades. When they hear of so much attention going to combat racism, it sounds like a plan to benefit others at their expense. They resent that. The knowledge that Blacks have it worse, if accepted at all, does not sway their thinking. Our country and its politics are influenced heavily by such people.

So while I myself agree that racism exists and is a serious problem, I actually think we should downplay the issue rather than publicize it heavily. What I favor instead are programs that help all poor and working class people, Black or white. Such programs can be administered without regard to race and can make a real difference in people's lives. Universal health insurance, a higher minimum wage (or "wage magnification"), free child care, perhaps a guaranteed basic income -- all such things are possible and should hopefully serve to unite the less well off instead of dividing them by race.

I imagine racism will lessen as the demographics of America change -- as those working class whites become a minority in a few more states. With patience, the worst excesses will fix themselves gradually through the ballot box. Yet in some form it will continue for tens or hundreds of years. This is profoundly unjust, but no problem is fixed by passion alone -- political will must be marshaled and maintained for any change in society.

If the liberal message on racism is loud, and it is,"We whites are privileged, so give more attention and resources to remedying racism!", the net results will not be good. While morally just, it is not a good idea politically in terms of actually achieving the desired changes. The benefits will be small, while the costs will be large.