Racism exists. It is everywhere. White racism is undeniable. But there is also racism in the arab world against blacks. Or even racism among blacks in Africa against albinos.
Having settled this, let me ask you this: a white person of the same socio-economical background of one black person, has more changes? In other words, once you remove the socio-economical differences, is racism still significant?
It is undeniable that black people live worse than white people, that they have less opportunities both professional and social, but I think the reason is economical discrimination. Black people are not poorer because they are discriminated; they are discriminated because they are poorer. And they are poorer because they started the "social race" from far behind, and, despite the opposite, there is no significant social mobility in the US (and the self-made man is a myth, but this is another story). Poorness brings criminality and criminality brings prejudice.
Let's talk about "Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback"[NBER]. Now are these job applicants getting less calls because they have African-American names or because these names are associated with lower socio-economical backgrounds? I was thinking that it would be interesting to make a similar study in Spain: trying with traditional names and names that are more commonly used to lower socio-economical backgrounds (English names such as Kevin or Jennifer, for instance). I am sure there would be a significant difference.
Why this is important? Because while the media focus on how blacks are discriminated and setting social plasters/band-aids to solve this discrimination, they divert the attention from the root of the problem: economical inequality.
I don't think anybody believes that media corporations are independent. We all know they are owned by the financial elites. And what do financial elites above anything else? To mantain the status quo. So with inequality growing, and black people suffering specially from the Covid19 tragic effects, putting the blame on an inherent racism in american society instead of on the inherent (and growing) economic inequality seems a smart move.
PS: Upward income mobility in the US [Forbes]:
Upward educational mobility in the US [Forbes]:
Having settled this, let me ask you this: a white person of the same socio-economical background of one black person, has more changes? In other words, once you remove the socio-economical differences, is racism still significant?
It is undeniable that black people live worse than white people, that they have less opportunities both professional and social, but I think the reason is economical discrimination. Black people are not poorer because they are discriminated; they are discriminated because they are poorer. And they are poorer because they started the "social race" from far behind, and, despite the opposite, there is no significant social mobility in the US (and the self-made man is a myth, but this is another story). Poorness brings criminality and criminality brings prejudice.
Let's talk about "Job applicants with white names needed to send about 10 resumes to get one callback; those with African-American names needed to send around 15 resumes to get one callback"[NBER]. Now are these job applicants getting less calls because they have African-American names or because these names are associated with lower socio-economical backgrounds? I was thinking that it would be interesting to make a similar study in Spain: trying with traditional names and names that are more commonly used to lower socio-economical backgrounds (English names such as Kevin or Jennifer, for instance). I am sure there would be a significant difference.
Why this is important? Because while the media focus on how blacks are discriminated and setting social plasters/band-aids to solve this discrimination, they divert the attention from the root of the problem: economical inequality.
I don't think anybody believes that media corporations are independent. We all know they are owned by the financial elites. And what do financial elites above anything else? To mantain the status quo. So with inequality growing, and black people suffering specially from the Covid19 tragic effects, putting the blame on an inherent racism in american society instead of on the inherent (and growing) economic inequality seems a smart move.
PS: Upward income mobility in the US [Forbes]:
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