Racism has reared its ugly head again with the tragic events that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend. The left continues to spout endlessly of unfairness and inequality across the country. Are you ready for a surprise? They’re right. Sort of. Racism and discrimination do still exist in the U.S., and it is a problem that is worthy of our attention. Yet, if we add a little historical context and analysis, we can see that the country has been heading in an impressively positive direction for 40 years. Racism is undeniably in decline, and the final steps to finally, fully move past this problem as a country are easier than you might think.
The Numbers You Know
You are already aware of the obvious truth that racism has diminished dramatically over the past few decades. Here are some numbers to clarify that truth. Since the Civil Rights movement, all schools have been desegregated. The improvement in education has more than doubled the number of Black Americans who have completed a bachelor’s degree or higher to 20 percent of the total population.
Middle class participation has also more than doubled — up to 21 percent as of 2014. As expected, Black American incomes have risen substantially. Just from 2011 to 2013, the median income rose by 3.5 percent (faster than national average). We could go on like this for a while, but the bottom line is simple: by every discernable metric, Black Americans are doing leaps and bounds better than they were in the 70s.
Non-Black Racism
Let’s take a step back for a moment and consider other examples of racism in America. If you look at older literature you’ll quickly realize that racism was not reserved specifically for one minority. Before WWII, intense discrimination against any sub-European group was rampant. Think of anti-Italian, anti-Irish or anti-Semitic examples you’ve heard in the past. There was a time when European immigrants couldn’t expect to find work beyond day labor and were largely uneducated.
When was the last time you heard a genuine example of these discriminations in modern America? These are forms of racism that have all but disappeared, and it happened rapidly after WWII. Most experts attribute it to the rise of the middle class and general economic expansion. There was enough prosperity to go around, and previously reviled minorities were able to meld seamlessly into the fold.
Persisting Racism
Despite that natural decline, some minorities (most prominent Black Americans) lagged behind. It’s easy to recognize how much of this was tied to segregation, and since the concept of apartheid was renounced in the U.S., progress has moved rapidly. Affirmative action and inclusion policies have also largely been credited with helping minorities to overcome education and financial disadvantages, but recent studies have shown that these methods have hit reverse effectiveness. For the past five years, affirmative action has actually contributed to an increase in disparity among American sub groups.
Even after reading the statistics of racial improvement, you can still see how Black Americans lag behind every other group. If government intervention is no longer productive, how then do we move forward to get Black Americans to the same state as the Italians and Irish?
Identity Politics
The answer is simple, and you probably already guessed. We have to end identity politics. There was never a persistent set of social programs for the minorities that broke free of discrimination. They simply worked hard and used the American Dream to rise above it all. Desegregation was essential to giving Black Americans a fair chance. Now that they have it, continuing to blame everything on racism does the minority group a disservice. We disempower them to achieve what other groups have. The very concept of affirmative action suggests that the American people do not believe in the self-sufficiency of Black Americans. It is a systemically racist policy, and the country can never be truly color blind while such programs exist. If the government can stop perpetuating racism, it will take less than a generation for the people to follow suit. We’ve seen multiple examples in history.
Once again, we’ve arrived at the same conclusion as our current leadership. Once again, it is the left that refuses to look at obvious examples and indisputable math. On the plus side, being proven right time and again never really gets old, so we’ll keep up the good fight and make this country the best place it can be despite the ridiculous opposition.
~ American Liberty Report
