Racism: my view...

The issue of systemic racism

    With no small trepidation, I want to write about race relations in the United States. I am not a historian, but I am interested in our history. Most people are rightly asking now,” What should we do about the situation of systemic racism?” I am reminded that doctors need a solid diagnosis before contemplating the treatment plan. In that spirit, I wish to present an abridged version of some of the events and forces that have brought us to where we are today dating back to the founding of our nation. As you read this, consider a framework outlined in an article titled “Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale” that suggests that racism can be personal, institutional or internalized. CP Jones - American journal of public health, 2000 - ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

    Personal racism means that an individual holds beliefs and feelings sometimes manifested in actions that demean or harm another person based on their skin color. Institutional racism has to do with government or business, police, finance or school laws or policies that systematically harm Black citizens. And internalized racism is the person of color’s resulting belief that they are not deserving of or able to enjoy the opportunities of American society. Many believed and hoped that the election of our first African American President would put us on the fast track to an equitable society. Not that simple. The last few years have shown us that systemic racism in all its myriad guises persists, and that we still have a very long way to go to meet the goals of racial justice and equality.

    Race is a social construct rather than a biological reality. All persons, regardless of color or ethnicity, share 99.9% of genes. The attached articles explain this phenomenon well -- http://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2017/science-genetics-reshaping-race-debate-21st-century/ and https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2018/04/race-genetics-science-africa/

    Here are some resources you may find useful on definitions of racism: https://www.racialequitytools.org/glossary#racism. and https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/being-antiracist This next article deals with the problem of the concept of “color-blind” as the goal for erasing racism: https://medium.com/@carlstrautcollard/the-counterproductive-racially-unconscious-approach-for-dismantling-discrimination-called-color-d3a9120f3213

The book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” by Isabel Wilkerson also provides a very useful construct to understand how we got to where we are today.

Some Historical Moments in American History that have defined Race in America

·       The first European settlers to America were mostly poor white people looking for religious freedom and economic opportunity. Though early relationships with Indigenous tribes were generally cordial, that relationship devolved into a takeover of all indigenous lands and subjugation and erasure of their culture. A book titled, “White Trash – The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America” by Nancy Isenberg explains how early white settlers were generally impoverished and developed hostile attitudes towards Black slaves who were below them in the social pecking order. The term chattel slave is an enslaved person who is owned forever and whose children and children’s children are automatically enslaved. Chattel slaves were individuals treated as complete property, to be bought and sold.

·       The Boston Tea Party in December 1773 was an act of rebellion against England and the spirit of protest was alive and well in early America. The war against the British on US soil set the framework for a proud and sometimes violent approach to life. The lives of the early settlers were extremely hard given the generally unforgiving land and climate, and lifespan was short.

·       In the Declaration of Independence, we read these epic words, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." And our pledge of allegiance written in 1892 ends with the words, “…with liberty and justice for all.” Of course, at that time the words “all men” in the Declaration of Independence and “all” in the Pledge of Allegiance did not include women or slaves.

·       The “original sin” of our current troubles culminating recently in the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor was the advent of slavery. Slavery was practiced in England from early colonial days and was legal in all thirteen American colonies. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property and could be bought, sold, or given away. Slavery lasted in about half of U.S. states until 1865. From 1620 until 1865, 600,000 slaves were brought to America from Africa. The tragic concept that white people of this nation could “import” Black people from West Africa, via the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and own them as property – as slaves, is the root of our troubles between the races. Ten of our early twelve Presidents, including Thomas Jefferson, owned slaves. Slavery became inseparable from the running of the economy in the South. Slavery existed in the North as well, though not to the same extent. In 1787 during the Constitutional Convention, the “three fifths compromise” negotiated by James Madison counted each slave as 3/5 of a person for purposes of the census. In 1820, Thomas Jefferson, said of slavery, “We have the wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other.” The founding fathers who we as schoolchildren were taught to revere were mostly slave holders and they did not clearly believe that it was wrong. Consider the following reference: 1619 Project written by Nikole Hannah-Jones.

·       The life of Frederick Douglass is an incredible story of a Black man born a slave in 1817 on a plantation in Maryland who as a young boy against great odds managed to learn to read. His ability to read allowed him to understand the systemic, governmental and institutional depravity of slavery. Douglass escaped his owners in a harrowing journey that brought him to Massachusetts. His remarkable life was dedicated to speaking out against the tyranny of slavery. Douglass ultimately became personally well acquainted with President Lincoln, who came to understand and respect Douglass. Douglass was a believer in the equality all peoples, whether white, Black, female, Indigenous, or Chinese immigrants. Frederick Douglass’ life is well told in a recent biography called Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight.

·       Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man who sued for his freedom and that of his wife and children. In March 1857, the Supreme Court decided in the Dred Scott case that Black people were not American citizens. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Roger Taney, the court ruled that Black people "are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word 'citizens' in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States." This decision codified into law that slavery was constitutional and that slaves were “property”.

·       When the Civil War commenced in 1861, 4 million Black people were held as slaves.

·       On September 22, 1862, President Lincoln stated in the Emancipation Proclamation that, as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in the states currently engaged in rebellion against the Union “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” This proclamation did not in and of itself end slavery, but it became a turning point in the Civil War as part of a military strategy to disrupt the South.

·       President Lincoln, born dirt poor, initially accepted the prevailing views about slavery and did not oppose slavery. But, over time, Lincoln came to understand that slavery was immoral, wrong and had to be eradicated. Part of Lincoln’s greatness was his ability to move out of the ambient belief system of his time and develop and grasp the deeper moral stance against slavery. Lincoln understood that the civil war was the last but necessary resort to save this nation. Lincoln was also impressed with and moved by the determination, bravery and contributions to the war effort by Black soldiers. In his famous second inaugural address on March 4, 1865 he uttered these remarkable words,

“One–eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes his aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered—that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.” With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.”

·       The assassination of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth who lamented the end of slavery on April 15, 1865 was one of the many spasms of white anger directed at those who would champion the rights of Black people.

·       The 13th amendment to the US Constitution ratified on December 6, 1865 officially abolishing slavery, read, ““Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The words “except as a punishment for crime” came back to haunt our nation as a pretext for incarcerating Black men. Watch the 2016 documentary “13th” on Netflix.

·       Black men attained the right to vote after passage of the 15th amendment to the constitution in 1870 prohibiting states from denying a male citizen the right to vote based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude." 

·       The period of time just after the Civil War through 1877 is known as Reconstruction. During this period a great deal of progress was made -- Black men got the right to vote (all women were still denied the vote), to own property, run businesses, hold public office and participate in social affairs. This period was an attempt to redress the inequities of slavery and its political, social, and economic legacy. During this time Sixteen African Americans served in Congress—including Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce in the U.S. Senate. More than 600 Black men served in state legislatures, and hundreds more in local offices from sheriff to justice of the peace scattered across the South. The advent of African Americans in positions of political power marked a dramatic break with the country’s traditions.

·       Reconstruction provided the opportunity for African Americans to solidify their family ties and to create independent religious institutions, which became centers of community life. Former slaves also demanded economic independence, and the phrase “40 Acres and a Mule” comes from this period of history. That promise was the first systematic attempt to provide a form of reparations to newly freed slaves. To read more about reconstruction, refer to “A Short History of Reconstruction” by Eric Foner.

·       Sadly, the progress made during Reconstruction was undermined by many white people who retained racist attitudes leading to the era known as Jim Crow. The history is somewhat hazy here, but it appears that a Black man with physical disabilities by the name of Jim Crow was ridiculed and marginalized by white people. The popularity of so-called “minstrel shows” in which white people dressed in black face and humiliated Black people came into vogue. During this period, Southern states passed laws that codified the separation of the races. In a landmark Supreme Court case called Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, the divisive “separate but equal” doctrine was coined. Of course, the reality was separate and unequal, but this fiction was allowed to cover the subjugation of Black people at every corner – housing, schools, health care, transportation, employment, the military. During Jim Crow, southern towns became a toxic wasteland for Black people and their chances for advancement, safety and equality were nil.

·       The so-called “Lost Cause” narrative attempted to rehabilitate some romantic version of the Confederate cause using statues of military heroes and “Stars and Bars” flags as symbols. This movement, starting after the end of the Civil War, attempted to rewrite and downplay the history of slavery. The Lost Cause movement gained momentum between 1900 and 1930 and persists to this day in some respects, as we watch for example the tug of war over Confederate statues.

·       In the Jim Crow era, we saw the unimaginable horror of lynchings of Black Americans, reflective of the same horrors inflicted on the slaves. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, 4,084 African-Americans were lynched between 1877 and 1950 in the South. Tragically, the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery raise the specter of lynching – murders based solely on the color of a person’s skin. I believe that part of the reason the reaction to the murders of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery has been so visceral and widespread around the nation, is because it has unconsciously tapped into this long vile history of lynching.

·       The resurgence of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the 1950s was another horrible reflection of the visceral racism of the time. The Klan first appeared in 1865 founded by the former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Though the Klan is mostly gone now, some of its ghosts and incarnations unfortunately persist in dark social media, and incidents such as Charlottesville demonstrate that there are many people who still hold racist white supremacist beliefs and are willing to act on them. There is currently a movement to designate the KKK as a terrorist organization.

·       Poll taxes were another regressive mechanism used to suppress the Black vote. Though poll taxes have been abolished as unconstitutional, similar mechanisms have been deployed to suppress minority voting power. In particular, aggressive gerrymandering imposed by state legislatures has diluted the potential for greater minority representation in congressional districts. As a historical note, women gained the right to vote with the passage of the nineteenth amendment to the constitution in 1920. However, many obstacles were placed in front of Black women (and men) to prevent them from being able to vote, such as Grandfather laws, literacy tests, and annual poll taxes. The grandfather clause said that a man could only vote if his ancestor had been a voter before 1867—but the ancestors of most Black citizens had been enslaved and constitutionally ineligible to vote. Voting laws are covered in the NPR podcast: The Racial History of The 'Grandfather Clause'.

·       As many of us have just learned recently, 1921 marked the murder of perhaps 300 black people in Tulsa, Oklahoma along with widespread burning and destruction of 35 square blocks of Black owned property. Around 8,000 people were admitted to hospitals. This event had a chilling effect on Black people around the nation for generations going forward.

·       From a legal perspective, the Jim Crow era came to an end in 1954 with the Supreme court case known as Brown v. the Board of Education. Briefly, in this case, the plaintiffs bringing the suit were families of Black children who demanded an equal education. The Supreme court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools were unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools were otherwise equal in quality – which they weren’t. It is amazing to think that this occurred a mere 66 years ago. However, the legal victory of Brown v. Board of Ed. did not end our racial problems as the system of interlocking institutional racism persisted.

·       Laws banning marriage between Blacks and whites, so-called anti-miscegenation laws were first introduced in the 1690s in several of the thirteen colonies and then adopted by many states. Incredibly, the law was finally held unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case ironically called Loving v. Virginia in 1967. Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote, "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State."

·       From 1932 until 1972, the United States Public Health Service ran an experiment on poor Black men with syphilis in Tuskegee, Alabama. Rather than treating them with penicillin which was the standard of care in 1947 which easily cured syphilis, they allowed these men to progress with their disease without informing them of their diagnosis. They told these men only that they had “bad blood”. I find it unconscionable that this persisted until someone finally blew the whistle in 1972. It was only in 1997 that President Clinton formally issued an apology to the victims. This tragic experiment has created fear in Black people to this day about receiving medical care and caused widespread reluctance to trust in or participate in medical studies. The legacy of Tuskegee is an example of structural racism.

·       In healthcare today, Black people are dying from Covid-19 at twice the rate as white people. A Black woman is two and a half times more likely than a white woman to die in childbirth, and a Black newborn is twice as likely as a white baby to die in infancy. The inequities persist.

·       In the 1960s and forward, we entered an era of mass Black incarceration, and racist attitudes toward Black people fueled the policies, such as the three strikes law, that locked up mostly Black men for minor crimes. Today our jails and prisons are overfilled with mostly men of color, many of whom are serving long sentences for minor drug offenses. Currently, 2.3 million Americans are incarcerated, an increase of over 700% since 1970, and over 40% of prisoners are Black where Black people only represent 13% of the U.S. population. It is only in the last year or so that people like former President Clinton admitted that these policies were flawed. In this highly intertwined story, there is clearly a connection between crime and economic and cultural insecurity. During this period the prison system became private and for profit. A good reference is a book by Michelle Alexander called The New Jim Crow and the documentary titled, “The Farm: Angola, U.S.A.” which provides an insightful look inside Angola prison in Louisiana. 

· September 15, 1963 the Ku Klux Klan bombed a Church in Birmingham, Alabama killing four girls -- Addie Mae Collins (14), Cynthia Wesley (14), Carole Robertson (14), and Carol Denise McNair (11). Though I have focused a great deal on events in the American South, racism persisted in the North. Boston has a long history of racism including opposition to busing for school integration and an all-white Boston Red Sox until 1959 when Pumpsie Green appeared on the roster. The Red Sox were the last major league team in the United States to integrate.

·       The Civil Rights act became the law in 1964 under President Johnson. The Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, required equal access to public places and employment, and enforced desegregation of schools and the right to vote.

·       The fight for civil rights took Black and white lives. James Chaney from Mississippi who was Black and Andrew Goodman and Michael Shwerner from New York city who were white drove to Alabama to fight for black civil rights and were murdered in June of 1964. They were killed by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

·       The Voting Rights act of 1965 prohibited discrimination in voting.

·       Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little in 1925, was a forceful figure whose story is well told in his biography titled, “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” written by Alex Haley. Malcolm X was born poor in Omaha, Nebraska and became caught up in petty crime in his youth. He spent time in prison and converted to Islam. As he channeled the anger of many Black Americans with his eloquence, he also made a political journey from espousing hatred and violence towards whites to coming to believe that Black peoples’ interests would be better served by effective non-violent participation with enlightened people of all colors. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965.

·       Martin Luther King was born on January 15, 1929 and assassinated on April 4, 1968. Martin Luther King championed the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He endured racist oppression, derision, haranguing, jail and beatings yet never wavered in his insistence on non-violent protest as the preferred means towards the ends of racial justice. His towering memory is a reminder that progress is hard and high costs have been paid in the work towards freedom and justice for all.

·       I have heard some say that oppressed people have a “right” to be violent including looting, destruction and perhaps even murder. Study of our own history shows that, perhaps with the catastrophic exception of the Civil War, all other gains have been brought about by peaceful, insistent and often provocative non-violent protest. Martin Luther King understood, taught and modeled the power and success of non-violent protest.

·       The riots of 1968 in multiple cities after the assassination of Martin Luther King reflected an outpouring of pent up rage over decades (and centuries) of racially based mistreatment. It is interesting to contrast those destructive riots with the present situation. One major difference is the significant participation of white people in the current protests which did not occur in 1968. Another hopeful difference between 1968 and 2020 is that in 1968 only 10% of voters were Black and brown whereas today 32% of voters are Black and Brown.

·       We cherish the concept of equal justice under the law, but it has not worked out that way for many Black people. Bryan Stevenson in his book, “Just Mercy – A Story of Justice and Redemption” tells the true stories of Black men railroaded into death sentences for crimes they did not commit. His book is the inspiration for the 2019 movie Just Mercy.

·       The topic of economic inequality is central to this complex story. Much has been said about the top 1% owning so much of the economy. However, I have been more impressed with the lesser known theory that the top 10% owns almost everything in our society. The top 10% perpetuates itself by having better schools, and therefore more Black children don’t make it to college, and the whole cycle replicates itself. I call this a “zipcode-tocracy”. This has not always been the case in modern US history. After World War II, the economic playing field was more level and all people could more easily benefit from educational and economic opportunities.

·       Income inequality between whites and Blacks is startling. The average white family in the U.S. has a median net worth of $171,000 whereas the net worth of the average Black family is $17,000 – a ten-fold difference. This legacy of economic disadvantage is passed down generation after generation. Wealth is a safety net for families allowing for better health care, better education and the ability to take career risks. These issues are all entwined and interlocking.

·       “Redlining” is defined as “the systematic denial of various services by federal government agencies, local governments as well as the private sector, to residents of specific neighborhoods or communities, either directly or through the selective raising of prices.” This term was coined in the 1960’s by sociologist John McKnight. Redlining has been used to economically discriminate against people of color in terms of getting fair mortgages – another example of structural racism. A good reference to understand the abuses of redlining is the book by Richard Rothstein titled The Color of Law. Home ownership is fundamental to the ability to build wealth and support a family.

·       Who were George Floyd, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Rodney King, Malice Wayne Green, Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice? These were black people lost to institutionalized racism. Those are the names we know – what about the names we don’t know…

    Institutionalized racism, implicit bias, prejudice – what is it? Our history of racial divisiveness is embedded in us and is part of our collective subconscious. I think it is necessary to accept that construct in order to move on and up. Racism is literally built into the founding and fabric of our nation, and we must acknowledge the failure of our society to teach that history or even acknowledge it in any real way. We will be making progress when we don’t have to experience, “Driving while Black”, “Running while Black”, “Living while Black” “Breathing while Black”. In 2018, Robin DiAngelo wrote “White Fragility: Why It’s so Hard for White People to Talk about Racism” – a good resource to better understand white attitudes on race.

    A friend of mine wrote the following to me: “In examining the depth of learned racism, from the expressed superiority, to seeing Mom clutch her purse when approached by a Black person, it is clear that equality of the races is beyond our abilities to see each other as humans of equal value. On both sides I see denial of the worth of the others. It is often said that to cure racism we simply need to get to know each other. But, how can that happen? I don’t have the answer, but I continue to seek.”

    There is plenty of reason for hope. No baby is born racist -- racism must be learned. Enshrined in our Constitution is the right to free speech and to peacefully assemble and protest, and our destiny will be determined by our collective actions. The philosopher George Santayana said famously in 1905, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As I said at the top of this piece, racism is personal, institutional and internalized. It is essential that we understand and accept our history and examine our own personal relationship to the problem of systemic racism. The solutions are difficult, but the choices are ours. If we are a little closer to understanding the diagnosis of racism, we can start to take on the hard and necessary work of the treatment plan.