Systemic Racism
U.S. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (D–MI) claims that high rates of black unemployment and low rates of black homeownership are due to “systemic racism” that has “been codified into laws.”
IN FACT, the rates of black and white employment were roughly equal 35 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the black/white home ownership gap in 1960 was smaller than it is now. These and other current racial disparities grew worse with declining racism and rising levels of political and social power held by minorities.
The social ills that afflict a greater portion of black people than whites — such as substandard educational outcomes, poverty, violence, incarceration, and poor health — are all associated with leftist public policies and mindsets, like these:
- Education that doesn’t equip people with practical skills because curriculums are packed with progressive priorities like critical race theory, social justice, environmentalism, and sexual instruction.
- Instilling a victim mentality in people, which is associated with weak self-control and less ability to persist in challenging tasks.
- Lax disciplinary standards that allow unruly students to disrupt the learning of the entire classroom.
- Placing the demands of teachers’ unions — which are a major source of funding to Democrats — over the desires of parents and the welfare of students.
- Social programs that reduce incentives to work and the ability to save.
- Liberal sexual ethics which fuel household fragmentation that dilutes workers’ incomes and is strongly associated with child emotional problems, drug abuse, and criminal behavior.
Because association does not prove causation, these connections cannot prove that leftism caused these outcomes, but they open the door to this possibility.
