Systemic racism

On July 28, 2020 Bill Barr dismissed during a House hearing that there is systemic racism in the US.  He is not alone.  Trump and many others have said such.

That systemic racism exists in the US is undeniable.  Blacks have a life expectancy ~ 3 years shorter than the White.  Blacks are also poorer.  Unless there is anything in their DNA or a darker skin that explains the deficits (no study has said so, and no scientists can reasonably claim so), the only remaining explanation is the environment, with systemic racism being a big part of it.  There is a slight complication in the case of native Americans, who also suffer from racism.  Many native American live on barren lands separate from most of the country’s population for centuries.  But black people have lived in the same rural and urban areas with others for over 100 years.  There are “good” vs “bad” neighborhoods in the cities, but they are the consequence rather than the cause of black poverty.  If two peoples have lived together for a long time, and DNA can’t explain the differences, what else can?  Only the history of environments can, and everybody knows the history.

Systemic racism manifests itself wherever one looks in the society: per capita, Blacks are more likely to die than Whites.  At the workplace.  At the hospitals.  On the streets.  Etc.  So what the police are complaining has merits, because they have to deal with the societal, systemic racism in the most direct and violet manner on a daily basis, and they can’t solve the racism problem, but they are getting the most and visible blame.  It is a sound explanation but not a valid excuse, given what they do also contributes to the problem.  

  

The BLM movement started in 2014, and its national support level reached solidly over 50% only after George Floyd’s death in May 2020.  A large portion of the US population are still in denial, and Trump is clinging to that.  Trump being what he is, only the worst possible people are willing to work for him.  Barr is the personal lawyer and firewall for Trump.  The lying of Mike Pompeo is second only to Trump’s.  Peter Navarro is the most ignorant PhD, as fact-free and logic-free as Steven Bannon.  Stephen Miller and Kellyanne Conway are among the few people sticking to Trump since the beginning, yet even their families are against them and Trump.  Not to mention Mary Trump, and other members of his extended families whose silence means only one thing.  Still, what will come out of BLM, other than superficial things like statue and flag removal, remains to be seen, because many more people, not just those in the right, have benefited from the current system.