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It is not complex and doesn't require much background knowledge ("critically" reading a couple books like So You Want To Talk About Race is enough, or you can j
by sershe 5y ago
It is not complex and doesn't require much background knowledge ("critically" reading a couple books like So You Want To Talk About Race is enough, or you can just skip those and read Cynical Theories). This "critical sense of the term" is basically a political wedge. There are two almost completely unrelated issues at play:
1) Institutions, like in most of the world, sort people by class and reward success; therefore, they may propagate class divisions and allow (or even amplify) differences in achievement.
2) Due to the history of the USA, the class in the USA is tied to race to a considerable degree.
(2) can and should be solved separately with policies ranging from affirmative action to reparations/better redistribution; however, this is not what (or not everything that) activists want. Books like New Jim Crow for example are explicitly ambivalent about affirmative action, because it allows some people success while leaving the rest of the poor behind and distracting from the struggle/compassion for them.
Leftists instead bundle those together and use it as a wedge against unsuspecting/apolitical center - if you are against "solving" (1) with leftist policies, you must be a-ok with (2) and therefore you are racist. When in reality, (1) in isolation is one of the greatest things for a society and should not be "solved" at all. Kendi is the most explicit and obvious example of this that comes to mind, others may be less explicit about it.
It's important for Americans to distinguish race from class, and to understand that, just like in the rest of the world, inequality as such is totally fine, and in fact good for society; "equity" is evil beyond school age, as proven thru history every time it has been tried. I grew up ~poor in Russia surrounded by other ~poor people, all white; that made me extremely classist. I personally cannot wait for a wonderful day where every kid has a chance to make a life for themselves, and a representative (M% white, N% black, etc.) upper-middle class in America can look with a slight pity and disdain at similarly (M% white, N% black, etc.) poor and say "you've had your chances, so why cannot you be more like me?" :)
- beaconstudios 5y agoIt's good for the hard working to be rewarded, I don't think anyone except the most extreme would disagree with that, including most leftists. The problem in the USA is that black people started out as slaves and this massive social oppression was never balanced out; famously the "thirty acres and a mule" reparations never materialised. As such black people largely remain a separate economic class due explicitly to government policy. The idea of equity as I understand it is to try to emulate or create an actual level playing field, where equality of opportunity is just pretending that race neutral policy creates an even playing field on its own. The whole "calling people racist for not advocating for equity" thing is ridiculous I agree; I think only a noisy subset of "woke scolds" actually do this. The actual idea is that institutions that ignore the reality of race in America are perpetuating those conditions, and thus are "institutionally racist", but that doesn't mean that the people in that institution are racist; it just means they're not anti-racist, which means they are basically just neutral/ambivalent/unaware. The postmodern left has a lot of pretty bad behaviour in the public eye, but the underlying theory is sound.
- dude187 5y ago> The problem in the USA is that black people started out as slaves and this massive social oppression was never balanced out That's not due to lack of opportunity, despite what the race peddlers insist is the only possibility. Plenty of discriminated immigrant groups have surpassed your average White household wealth in a matter of a couple generations. The problem is largely behavioral, but any discussions of the topic are typically controlled by people that don't let that be an acceptable angle to look at.
- beaconstudios 5y agoOK then, let's look at that. If you're an ambitious person and your entire neighbourhood and everyone you've ever known is poverty-stricken, there are no jobs in your area, and the only thing akin to a route out of poverty is the drug trade, what are you gonna do? Even if you don't want to be involved, gangs may forcibly recruit you at a young age. The problem perpetuates itself as gangs mean no new business will move into the area for fear of being robbed or extorted. Immigrants moving from other countries are not necessarily stuck in the mindset that comes from poverty and crime. This isn't a uniquely racial thing either; here in the UK we have a near identical problem (minus gun violence) with young poor majority-white men, called chavs. Poverty and lack of opportunity drives crime, and crime tends to perpetuate the same problems that caused it. Thus, the systems-theory aspect of critical theory, which is the complex part I was talking about previously.
- dude187 5y agoYou've basically stumbled upon the anti-CRT point that I've been trying to make. Race is not the hinge factor, but demanding that we make it one is a form of racism.
- beaconstudios 5y agoNo, that's not the point at all. The point is that explicitly race based policy started a self perpetuating poverty trap, and explicitly anti-racist policy is required to collectively get black people out of it. Because it's self perptuating. I'd love to know how you think racial equality will be achieved in the US though. Be warned, I am expecting the "personal responsibility" argument and am more than ready to debunk it.