Wojtek:
>> ...racism may explain why guys like
>> Zimmerman walk free from situations that would put someone with different
>> skin color behind bars, but it does not explain why guys like Martin have
>> it difficult to find a decent job.
The official black unemployment rate is, and has historically been, about twice as high as that for white American workers - 13.7% versus 6.6% in the latest BLS report for June released earlier this month.
Why is racism, for you, a sufficient explanation of the distortions in the US criminal justice system, but "does not explain why guys like Martin have it difficult to find a decent job"?
Doug:
> "Racism" happens because of shitty laws, shitty employment patterns, and shitty inheritance patterns. Locating it in personal attitudes, or reifying it, serves no analytic or political purpose. In this case, SYG laws are a horrible problem, and things like this will happen over & over again. A bunch of leftists jumping up and down screaming (or typing) "white supremacy" won't accomplish a damn thing.
I take it from your comments that the US left should be abstaining from the spontaneous protests which have erupted against the Zimmerman acquittal because they cannot possibly have any effect on public consciousness. Ditto for demonstrations and other forms of political action which have periodically been organized to protest against the disproportionate number of unemployed blacks in the job market. Also of no concern for American leftists, who need to understand that racism is not simply a matter of "personal attitudes".
Would you participate in these protests if you were satisfied they were typically organized by a broad spectrum of political opinion within the black and other minority communities and weren't the product of a "bunch of screaming leftists jumping up and down"?