Miss the first one? Go here >>> Institutional racism in the United States is real. Patriotic pride doesn’t negate it. A “colorblind” self-identity doesn’t negate it. Having black friends doesn’t negate it. It is older than anyone alive, so none of us is to blame for starting it. Colorblindness defies reality, and we need to
Institutional racism by non-racists no longer requires having open, expressed hatred toward anyone because of the color of their skin. Race* makes a great difference in how people are treated in the United States of America, nonetheless. It has for over 400 years, and it continues now. I believe most Americans consider overt racial discrimination
Recently, I’ve been consuming books* about race in the United States. The first of these, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration In The Age Of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander, took me down an enlightening path. Although I was familiar with the legal cases, events, and history discussed, the book crystallized how they were connected. The
The United States of America is NOT the “Land of the Free”. If that hurts your feelings, I’m with you. In Part 1, I described in general terms the culmination of the “criminal justice” system in the United States of America. We are less free, in that sense, than any country in the world because
America is addicted. It is a non-stop compulsion. Lives are ruined by the millions. It marks people for life, if they can manage to escape. The drug? Incarceration. The United States of America incarcerates more people than any country in the world. Read that again. Yes, you read that right. Even “Oppressive” Countries Incarcerate Fewer
