Racial [in]equality

 

Racial [in]equality

This is a summary of the main points regarding how races have been treated differently.*

Historic Inequality: Slavery, Indentured Servitude, and Masters:

Throughout history, slavery was the norm across the planet and all races enslaved one another and their own; generally, race was not a factor for enslavement.

The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was only one of the slave trades.  There was also the East-African Slave Trade which had existed for centuries before the Trans-Atlantic.  Slaves were taken from as far as the south of Africa and as far north as England.  Regardless of race, slaves sent East were treated similarly as later slaves sent West.

As the United States was being formed and its early years, slaves from Africa began to be more popular than indentured servants from Europe.   The difference between indentured servitude and slavery was more legalistic, as there was much overlap.  Slavery was forced upon the slaves, and not all indentured servants were volunteers.  Slaves and indentured servants were used for physical labor, and could be punished physically as well as killed with the owners rarely facing any consequences.  Many servants died before being released; many slaves earned or were granted their freedom.

Current Inequality: Who is Getting What: Education, Immigration, and Income:

Regardless of race, educational attainment is correlated with income.  One who does not have a high school diploma earns around half of what one who earned a bachelor’s degree, and less than a quarter of what one who earned a Doctorate or professional degree.

Educational attainment and participation in work is not evenly divided across races.  American Indians, Blacks, and Hispanics have the lowest percentages of those completing high school; Blacks and American Indians continued in not completing college.  Those without a high school diploma have a work-participation of 58%-78%, with the exception of Blacks who have a work-participation rate of 39%.

New Black immigrants earn more than native-born Blacks.  Asian and Indian immigrants out earn any other group, including native-born Whites.  College education does help income, but not all college education is the same as STEM programs earn more.  Sub-Saharan Blacks, as well as Asians, and Indians each have more degrees in STEM.

An additional factor affecting income regardless of race is parentage.  Single-parent households have the highest rates of poverty, while married-couple households have the lowest rates.  The rate of single-parent households for Whites is 27%, while for Blacks it is 75%.  Less parentage leaves children, especially boys, more susceptible to problems that will affect social standing and income potential.

Current Sectarianism: Who has done what to who:

Blacks assault other Blacks at 5.8 times their representation in the general population.  Crossing racial lines, Blacks assault Whites at a higher rate than Whites assault Blacks.  The main source of violent offenders for Whites and Blacks were members of the same race.

Blacks were more likely to be stopped by police, but not more likely to be injured or killed than any other race in those stops. 

There is a neural reaction against Blacks in threat detection, but in complex behavioral responses that neural reaction does not affect responses; there is a behavioral bias in favor for Blacks.  Instead of looking at the general population, but at police-exposure rates, Whites were more likely and more quickly shot than Blacks.

When police assistance is requested, there was no difference in level of satisfaction (around 93%) across races in that police response.  Police violence is a rare event: out of millions of contacts, there are thousands of injuries and around a thousand killed. Those police who unjustly harm or kill another person should be prosecuted with extra punishment potential for the violation of the trust and authority granted to them; there should be no qualified immunity.  In addition, if there were no victimless crimes then the number of police contact with civilians would be halved, and be in responses to requested assistance for actual crimes where someone was victimized.

Racism used to be the explicit omission or inclusion of members of a race. ‘Racism’ has morphed into a vague inference and implication to explain differences among groups and stopping at the superficial, single variable of race, while omitting all the other factors in life that can affect how people act, interpret, and think.  Existence is nuanced. This is not to say that there is not racism active in some people, but the prevalence is small.  Univariate interpretations of complex systems and behaviors only goes to show one’s own bias (or racism), and not reflect the reality of existence.

*main points from You have a Racism Fetish and it’s not Healthy, or How I learned Some Perspective and Dropped Critical Race Theory