4 ms·

I want to believe you're coming to this in good faith, but in your last paragraph you mention "institutional racism", which is the same thing as systemic racism

I want to believe you're coming to this in good faith, but in your last paragraph you mention "institutional racism", which is the same thing as systemic racism-- institution == system. This is not confusing because that is what it always means. 'Institutional' racism doesn't mean, like, racism at a university or something. You seem to be muddying the waters unnecessarily (intentionally?). Forgive my paranoia in these troubled times but could you be a paid shill come to waste our energy?

throwaway894345 6y ago
This is the problem; depending on who you talk to, "systemic racism" has a different definition. Kendi defines "systemic racism" as "anything that causes disparate outcomes between racial groups". People who make the claim that racial disparities in rates of police killings probably mean to imply that police exhibit racial prejudice in their killings, but given that disparate crime rates seems to explain the disparity in police killings, they can claim that they're technically correct in that centuries of racial oppression have created a system (presumably a cultural system) in which blacks are more likely to commit crimes (assume this is true for sake of argument; this has been litigated thoroughly elsewhere) and thus more likely to suffer police violence. They're technically correct, but it doesn't support arguments or conclusions that police are racially prejudiced (e.g., "more anti-bias training for police", "calling the cops on a black person is a death sentence", etc). It's important to be clear and accurate on this point because these two very different implications suggest very different remedies, and black lives hang in the balance. > Forgive my paranoia in these troubled times but could you be a paid shill come to waste our energy? Alas, I'm not a critical theorist.

4 ms·

I want to believe you're coming to this in good faith, but in your last paragraph you mention "institutional racism", which is the same thing as systemic racism

by frazbin 6y ago

throwaway894345 6y ago
This is the problem; depending on who you talk to, "systemic racism" has a different definition. Kendi defines "systemic racism" as "anything that causes disparate outcomes between racial groups". People who make the claim that racial disparities in rates of police killings probably mean to imply that police exhibit racial prejudice in their killings, but given that disparate crime rates seems to explain the disparity in police killings, they can claim that they're technically correct in that centuries of racial oppression have created a system (presumably a cultural system) in which blacks are more likely to commit crimes (assume this is true for sake of argument; this has been litigated thoroughly elsewhere) and thus more likely to suffer police violence. They're technically correct, but it doesn't support arguments or conclusions that police are racially prejudiced (e.g., "more anti-bias training for police", "calling the cops on a black person is a death sentence", etc). It's important to be clear and accurate on this point because these two very different implications suggest very different remedies, and black lives hang in the balance. > Forgive my paranoia in these troubled times but could you be a paid shill come to waste our energy? Alas, I'm not a critical theorist.