Juneteenth Day - Race

[JBJ 3648]

No one has started this, so happy Juneteenth Day.  It's mostly questions to think about, but I'll give some thoughts below (no Tahoe):

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Where does institutional racism still exist de jure (in law)? When should disparate racial impacts be considered in application of the law?

Where/how does institutional racism still have a lasting impact?  What areas are overlooked?

Where/how have we been successful and unsuccessful in solving institutional/systemic racism?  Gone not far enough, gone too far? What should be the goal?

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I'm skipping my own de jure question because I don't know any good and specific examples.  Gerrymandering, immigration, and drug enforcement have racial impacts, but I dont think race is determinative in those areas.

I think institutional racism can be best viewed when looking at historically black neighborhoods. The lack of housing rights, accomodation rights corralled rural blacks into urban ghettos.  Bonton, Dallas is the best local example of this.  Bonton was one of the earliest black housing projects in Dallas, about a century old.  It is currently what is called an urban desert...which means there's no groceries within a few miles, I think the closest is in Fair Park. There's no direct bus line to get there, so it ends up being a 3-hour trip to get groceries.  Which makes meat, dairy, eggs, and other refrigerated foods increasingly difficult for residents to have.  There is a liquor store and a gas station where one can pick up honey buns, chips, soda, and the like...but there's no fresh food.  Of course, heart disease and diabetes are common.  Crime is common, access to jobs is poor and average income is dismal, less than half of the poorest neighborhoods in FTW... I could go on, but you get the idea.

There's not much been done to fix problems among the poorest of the poor.  Affirmative action in hiring and contracting do not help these people get a job or start a business.  Scholarships are a pipe dream.  They are disconnected from the middle class and upper class people that benefit from these programs.  There's far too much focus on how to produce a black CEO, and far too little focus on how to rebuild an impoverished community.

I didn't mean to write a whole spiel on poverty, but that's ultimately where the problem lies in my eyes.

[David Dennison 18646]

America is for white people. Every non-white person in this country knows that.

And yes, poverty is terrible.

Happy Juneteenth!

Edited June 19, 2018 by David Dennison

[Equinox 95]

I love Juneteenth. I used to play in the basketball tournament at our local celebration, but my knees won't allow it now. I'll still get me some good BBQ though.