The Forest Of Racism

“For me to actually believe that you or any other black person are getting anything other than an occasional racial slur from the occasional idiot, you would have to give me several examples of black people who did everything right (good grades, college, a degree in a field that pays well and is in high demand) and still couldn’t get ahead. For now I suppose you will have to settle for calling me a racist for thinking that black people succeed or fail based on their actions, talents, and personal drive just like everyone else.” – David

David, a visitor to my blog, wanted a list of all the black people who went to school and got degrees from college and were unable to find jobs. This is the only form of discrimination that he is willing to recognize other than the occasional racial slur. The fact that black professionals who are able to find jobs make on average seventy eight percent of what white professionals make has absolutely no bearing on the discrimination the black community is subjected to. The fact that black schools are routinely under funded compared to white schools is justified because the houses in the neighboring community don’t have the income or the property value to justify the funding that the schools in the white communities enjoy. Black on black crime is everywhere and gnawing at the fabric of decent society while white on white crime is perceived to be a rare phenomenon hardly worth attention. White on white crime is assumed to be rare even though we constantly turn on the news and see white people committing crimes against each other and against society as a whole. But since we never hear statistics about how white crime is growing out of proportions, but are constantly hearing about the boom in black crime, black crime is by far the worser evil. Black people in the world of business are regularly passed over for opportunities of promotion and employment and David wants a list of black people who did everything correctly and are still failing as proof before he is willing to acknowledge any form of discrimination.

Seriously, is that all it would take to convince someone with an obviously strong white mindset that racial discrimination is a factor in America? Somehow I doubt it. David has already dismissed many forms of racial discrimination as a factor in America. David doesn’t even consider the number of black people from families who aren’t able to get a degree because they don’t have access to the resources that families from the white community have. Add the fact that black children are more likely to attend inferior schools with inferior learning environments and inferior curriculums and it should be no surprise to see that the majority of black people are subjected to conditions that make it much more difficult to compete in the competition for higher education or employment. But black people can and do deal with these conditions.

However, because of these conditions that a lot of people recognize as synonymous with the black community most people are quick to make the assumption that the black candidate is an inferior to their white counterparts. Taking a chance on hiring the black candidate is too much of a risk. The black candidate may have been able to sell him or herself in an interview. But their talk of experience could be nothing more than fast talk. For many people, there is a reasonable assumption that the black candidate’s resume is embellished. There is too much circumstantial evidence to support the theory that black people may be able to explain their understanding of business dynamics but what if the black person’s actual understanding is exaggerated? It’s just a better business decision to hire the white candidate who is more likely to have the better education and better experience despite the facts that may say otherwise.

But even if the stereotypes are true what do we do as a society to try and eliminate the differences between the black and white communities? The dominant culture does well in its support of the white community. Instead of spending a dollar to help improve the black schools white cultures would rather spend ten dollars to bus black kids to white schools. Let a board of education say the school in the black neighborhood is crumbling so we’ve come to the conclusion that we must spend the funds necessary to rebuild the school, the white community will say that spending that extra money in the black neighborhood would be unfair. It would be derided as a school funding system where the rich are being robbed to help the poor. The American society that is quick to declare itself as the most generous and caring people in the world could give a rat’s ass about the education of children in the black neighborhoods. Let an institution of learning say we want to make sure we have a racially diverse student body and the white mindset will make accusations of reverse discrimination in order to protect the white privilege.

We know there is a disparity and we know that there is a condition of inequality between black people and white people. But we as a society are unwilling to make any effort to change the stereotypical conditions of the black community. We are justified in our collective reasoning that black people are undeserving and ill equipped to compete with white people. As a black man with a degree and with twenty years of database application experience I know what it is like to have a company eliminate me as an employee simply because I had the audacity to show up for an interview. In the past year, several companies have flown me across country to do a face to face interview after I had submitted an application for a job, submitted my resume, gone through a background check, offered a list of professional references, gone through a telephone interview with a hiring manager, performed an interview with a technical manager, and after being told that I was their number one candidate. Suddenly, shortly after the face to face interview, the company decides to go in a different direction.

People with a white mindset may say that it is the company’s right not to hire me. I have to agree. Nobody said that these people need to be arrested. But just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical or moral. They could have changed their mind for a variety of reasons and not necessarily for anything racially nefarious. But when it happens on a consistent and constant basis, anybody who thinks this is fair and everybody needs to just pull themselves by their bootstraps isn’t trying to promote an environment of neutrality. They are promoting an environment of status quo which traditionally favors white privilege.

After the Second World War the American economy spent millions and possibly billions of dollars in an effort to help European countries get back on their feet after the war that devastated their economy and infrastructure. As the sole survivor to emerge from the war without any damage to its industry, factories, infrastructure or economy, the United States stepped up to the plate and helped reestablish their economies. No one said these countries had to do what they could to help themselves. No one said France or England or even Germany had to pull itself up by its bootstraps. Millions of dollars were set aside specifically for the rebuilding of these communities.

If the people in this country can do it for people we once referred to as the enemy thousands of miles away, if we could help our allies rebuild their industries and cities even though they are not part of the American culture why can’t America do it for its own? It’s interesting that while the United States was going out of its way to help the white Europeans it happened at a time when America was at the peak of black subjugation. An entire segment of the American own population will never get the consideration America gives to countries overseas. The United States stepped up to the plate to help Japan after World War II even though this country bombed the shit out of the naval base in Pearl Harbor. It was with America’s assistance that Japan became the industrial powerhouse it is today.

The same could happen for the black community if people made an honest commitment to help. But instead, people want to wash their hands of the despair black people endure. People like David don’t even recognize the disparity. Before they are willing to acknowledge any racism they have to have proof and confirmations. And more than likely any evidence David and his kind are given will be dismissed as nothing more than circumstantial at best or proof that black people are lazy and just want a handout. People could see the complete picture of disparity in the black community. People could gain a reasonable understanding of the conditions in the black community that instills black people with such a sense of hopelessness if they truly wanted to. But too many people with a white mindset are so busy looking at the tree for evidence that is easily refuted so they won’t have to see the conditions of the entire forest of racism.