Look at the liberal claims that America is systemically racist. Those claims go all the way from Twitter to college professors, to liberal pundits, to the President of United States, Joe Biden. The proof? No proof is needed. Just the repetition of the claim is enough and challenging it is proof that youâre part of the problem. The âreasoningâ being, who could challenge the idea that America is systemically racist except a racist?
Well, letâs step outside of that closed mental loop and actually consider the evidence.
To start with, has America ever been systemically racist against black Americans? Clearly, the answer is, âyes.â What did that look like at different points in American history? Slavery. Not allowing black Americans to vote. Forcing black Americans to move to the back of the bus, use different water fountains, and not allowing them to sit at the counter in restaurants. Certain businesses and professions not allowing black Americans to participate (example: Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in 1947). Black children not being allowed to attend the same schools as white children. Miscegenation laws designed to keep black Americans and white Americans from breeding. Race-based lynchings. We could go on from there, but you get the idea.
Now, how does this compare to 2021 America? Barack Obama served two terms as President and Joe Biden currently has a black VP. On the other side of the aisle, although he couldnât pull it off, for a while in 2012, Herman Cain was once the front-runner for the GOP nomination. Currently, there are also 59 black members of Congress. Colleges discriminate AGAINST whites and Asians to help get more black applicants. Being racist is almost universally condemned to the point where people regularly make false accusations of racism against their political enemies. Interracial dating is common. Many of the most powerful, well-known and well-liked celebrities in America are black (for example Oprah Winfrey, Kanye West, and Denzel Washington). To the extent we have segregation in America today, itâs black Americans forming groups and clubs to keep other races out, not vice-versa.
In fact, most of the arguments that America is racist have become increasingly obscure and esoteric. Most of it seems to boil down to some nobody being caught on tape using the N-word, there being too many white people on TV, or someone catching a black politician doing something wrong, which prompts them to falsely play the racism card in an effort to get a pass for their transgression. The only thing that keeps the whole country from collectively rolling its eyes at this nonsense is the fact that inarguably, black Americans as a group donât do as well economically as white Americans.
So, if America isnât systemically racist, why arenât black Americans doing just as well financially as white Americans? That is one of the FORBIDDEN questions that we are not allowed to openly discuss in America because the only acceptable answer to that question if you want to remain a liberal in good standing is âracism.â In fact, if you come up with an answer to that question that isnât âracism,â such as the obvious fact that different groups have different average skill sets, you will be accused of racism. If racism is to blame for blacks earning less than whites on aggregate, that leaves us to wonder how it’s possible that when broken down by ethnicity, Nigerian Americans actually outearn whites.
Of course, in all fairness, there is no definitive answer to that question, but there are a number of other obvious responses that at first glance, would appear to play a much bigger role than non-existent systemic racism. For every white American child living in a single-parent home, there are three black Americans living in a single-parent home. Statistically, just that alone theoretically could be enough to explain any economic gap. Black Americans also pretty clearly have a much more lenient attitude towards crime than white Americans. Something like Black Lives Matter couldnât exist if that wasnât the case and economically, that does a lot of damage to black communities.
Itâs also worth noting that white Americans are arguably not even the most economically successful group in America. That would be Asians/Pacific Islanders who, in 2019, had a median household income of $91,414 vs. $70,727 for white Americans. Few people seem to explain the success of Asian Americans with claims that America is systemically racist against people OTHER THAN Asians, right? On the contrary, most people, if they were willing to be honest about it, would explain their success by pointing at Asian cultural ideals that emphasize hard work, studying, and relentless, almost unreasonable levels of pressure to succeed. That might be right or wrong, but itâs healthy.
When we see people that succeed in our society, weâre supposed to try to figure out why theyâre successful, copy what theyâre doing, and try to learn from it. When we do that, whoever we are and whatever our race may be, we become better. If we declare that success has nothing to do with merit, we are encouraging people to give up or spend their time fighting against non-existent phantoms instead of trying to make themselves better. Not only is declaring this country to be systemically racist a disgusting slur thatâs obviously untrue, but itâs also a harmful lie. It smears good people, it turns Americans against each other, it libels a great nation, and it discourages people from making their lives better.
John Hawkins is the author of 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know. He also owns Linkiest.com.
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