- Many people in Baltimore area refuse to take puiblic transit because most of the riders are black or hispanic. I am pretty sure the same is true for most other areas.
- Car insurance rates in predminantly "black" zip code areas can be several times higher than in the burbs, for example $3-4 thousand a year versus $800-$900 a year. This is institutional racism not merely market, because insurance is essentially about socializing (externalizing) of certain costs and that necessaruly involves social distinctions how those cost are or are not socialized, i.e. the costs of blacks are externalized on other blacks but not whites. That is different from, say, a merchannt refusing to do business in a 'black' area on th efear of hight cost or not making enough profit (which is market rathr than racism).
- Many white suburbanites resist public transportation extension to the burbs on the bullshit claim that it will bring "criminals" (code word for urban blacks) to their residential areas. I heard that bullshit with my own ears! As if the "criminals" could not wait to take a bus trip to the burbs - which takes over one hour instead of 15-20 minutes by car - rob a specimen of the amerikkkan dream of its precious possessions, take the loot to the bus stop, wait half an hour or more for the bus, and then take an hour ride back to the ghetto. And the most scary part is that many white college educated suburbanites actually believe that lunacy.
- Car-based transportation, which many poor blacks cannot afford due to high insurance rates, effectively bars them form better job opportunities, which are usually located in the burbs. That is institutional racism.
- Since driving is a privilege, that gives the police more rights and pretexts for arbitrary stops, searches and seizures. It is a well known fact that they use car as the means of harassing blacks (e.g. racial profiling of motorists used virtually be every police depertment). Subjecting pedestrians or bus riders to the same level of harassment would not be that easy and more likely to raise political stink.
As far as sexism is concerned, driving is still the patriarchal domain of the male. Surely, there are woman drivers, bhut if a man and a woman are in the car together - it is usually the male who does the driving. cars are usally focus of male socializing and male bonding, especially among lower class males. Car ads are extremely sexist - next only to tobacco advertising. Car is usually used as the tool to seek and contract sex work - and gives the male considerable power and leverage over the female sex worker.
wojtek