Racism through rose-colored glasses

Americans usually right wrong when they see it, but today things are not always so clear.  The horrors of war hide behind the falsehood that smart bombs and predator drones kill only the bad guys.  Lethal injection creates the illusion that capital punishment is humane.  Racism has remained hidden behind a similar veneer ever since the civil rights movement of the 1960's.

There are those who think racism has been eliminated or at least reduced significantly because they see few prominent displays of segregation, discrimination, or Ku-Klux-Klan-like violence.  Some perceive the world from the comfort, safety, and relative affluence of their own communities largely disconnected from the world of the have-nots except what they see in media. 

Racism is not limited to overt manifestations.  It’s the more subtle emotional and psychological forms inflicted over centuries that do the most damage.  Although the chains and shackles of slavery are long gone and Jim Crow laws outlawed, blacks are still enslaved by socioeconomic forces.  This does not mean that most people are racist, only that the general population fails to see how pervasive racism is.

Here are just a couple of facts to consider:

In 2005 the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics released a report that found that although the same percentage of white, black, and Hispanic drivers were stopped by police, blacks were three times more likely to be searched (person or vehicle) than whites, more than three times more likely to be handcuffed, and almost three times more likely to be arrested.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s report, “Faith Matters: Race/Ethnicity, Religion and Substance Use,” found that whites account for 73 percent of annual marijuana users and 72 percent of annual users of illicit drugs other than marijuana.  Yet blacks are sent to prison for drug offenses at 10 times the rate of whites.

In 2008 blacks and Hispanics comprised 58% of all U.S. prisoners, yet they comprise roughly one quarter of the U.S. population.

Utilizing data provided by the United States Sentencing Commission and state correctional departments, the American Civil Liberties Union estimates that blacks account for 65.4 percent of prisoners serving life without parole sentences for nonviolent crimes. 

All these racial disparities contributed to the U.S. prison population growing by 700% between 1970 and 2005.  Incarcerated Americans now represent 25 percent of the entire world prison population.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, blacks make up 41.71 percent of the current U.S. death row population. 

Richard C. Dieter, an attorney, concluded in his report, “The Death Penalty in Black and White: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides,” that there is “an overwhelming body of evidence that race plays a decisive role in the question of who lives and dies by execution in this country.”

According to a study by the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandeis University, "The wealth disparity between white and black households has more than quadrupled, regardless of income bracket" from 1984 to 2007.

The simplistic, convenient explanation is to blame the parents for perpetuating the cycle of poverty, but it’s not so simple and one thing is certain, you cannot justify the condemning of children who have to endure inadequate prenatal care, poor healthcare, insufficient diets, terrible schools, the digital divide, and violent neighborhoods.

A new report, titled "Race for Results," conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found that Asian and white children were far better positioned for success than American Indians, blacks, and Latinos.  The study described the challenges facing black children as "a national crisis."

The two races who have had the most difficulty breaking free of the cycle of poverty are American Indians and blacks, and they both share very unique characteristics.  Both were forcibly removed from their native lands and faced centuries of enslavement, oppression, betrayal, and economic exploitation.  All other ethnic groups came to America voluntarily and  did not face the degree of hardship these two groups have endured for hundreds of years.

Randall Robinson writes in his article, "What America Owes to Blacks and What Blacks Owe to Each Other," states: "If the black community were paid eleven trillion dollars tomorrow in reparations, unless we were able to repair the damage done to our psyches and our souls over the years, the money would do us no good."

Racism today in its insidious forms oppresses people of color from cradle to grave.  Until we collectively remove our rose-colored glasses, no meaningful, sustainable progress will be made toward eradicating racism in all it forms.