--- Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> You want the work done for you? It takes about 27
> years to figure it
> out and I would think a foreigner has a leg up on a
> native. Seeing
> it takes talking to people, reading books, watching
> movies, going out
> of your way a little, just like you learn anything
> else.
>
[WS:] So I understand that you are basically unable or unwilling to give me such examples. That is odd, because I can give examples of structural racism in the US society, and in fact I gave them on this list in the past (e.g. transportation policy or housing in certain areas, or sentencing guidelines) but I do not think that they are that pervasive as some people claim.
You also doubt that mine is a bone fide query. I can assure you it is. I have reached certain conclusions that are incompatible with the claims of pervasive structural racism made on this list and elsewhere, but I also understand that I might have missed something and thus I am open to accept valid evidence to the contrary - if someone offers one (instead of ad hominems questioning my judgment or integrity or isolated examples, which as I already said, I acknowledge but I do not think they are pervasisve).
To be more specific, based on my 27 years of observations of this country I came to the conclusion that the poor living conditions of many (but not all) Blacks in this country are a matter of personal choices or lack of them rather than institutional rules that keep that population from achieving better living conditions. By individual choices I understand not only the life styles that people espouse, but also the choices that do not make e.g. choice not to get education, as well as choices of the parents regarding their children. I see very few instituional constraints that these people face - as evidenced by the fact that many Blacks have achieve a high social status. Those few constraints that exist are geared mainly to "protect" property values of whites rather than to prevent Blacks from achieving higher social status. I also see a lot of systemic incentives to encourage Blacks in certain instituional settings (such as education), as well as anti-discrimination legislation and policies that simply do not exist in most other countries.
That led to me conclude that the disadvantages thatt many Blacks face are a result of their or thier parent's choices (or the lack thereof) rather than instituional constraints imposed on them, which are relatively few. As I said, most of institutional racism that I can see in this society is geared toward protecting economic assets of other groups rather than preventing Blacks from achieving better living conditions on thier own.
So unless you or others on this list can procure *valid* evidence (not just a few example, whose existence I already acknowledged) to the contrary I simply remain unconvinced about the claims of pervasive and structural racism (as opposed to individual bigotry) in the US. I think the US is remarkably free of such formal constraints in comparison to other countries, even EU (cf. Germany that bars many pople born there from attaining citizenship.)
Wojtek
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