Race and racism anon meme thing

[dreamer_easy]

International Blog Against Racism Week begins tomorrow, 6 August. Before the week officially starts, I'd like to try something a bit dodgy.

For the next twenty-four hours, you can leave an anonymous message here with any questions you have about race or racism. IP logging is off and there are no LJ Toys or other IP-capturing stuff to worry about.

I know many people are afraid to say or ask things about these subjects, for fear of looking stupid or causing offence. I'll delete anything that's obviously just supposed to be abusive, and anything that uses insulting words, but otherwise, anything goes. POC, please be warned: that means there may be annoying, frustrating, or offensive material - you may prefer not to read the comments left here.

I can't guarantee answers to questions that are posted, but I will try to respond if I can. I won't judge or lecture anyone for honest curiosity or confusion. (Keep in mind I'm just a well-meaning White middle-class liberal, and no expert on racial issues.)

The twenty-four hours is up, folks! You can still post anonymously, but IP logging is back on. Thanks for your comments!

Comments

[thegameiam.livejournal.com]

In my neck of the woods (i.e. a part of the country where there are tremendously affluent marjority-black neighborhoods), poverty is less a function of what race you are than:

1) were your parents poor?
2) did you have two parents?
3) did you finish high school / take some college?

Now, there are statistical differences between the various demographic groups, but you'll find that poverty tracks those far more than it tracks skin color.

Race is an outmoded concept, which has outlived its shelf-life (it never had any usefulness to outlive) - let's just worry about poverty reduction: if the poor people happen to have dark skin, we'll help them. If they happen to have light skin, we'll help them. What does skin color matter?

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Racism: a Very Short Introduction cites US studies from the sixties, the nineties, and most recently Whitewashing Race (Brown et al, 2003), all of which demonstrate that "... institutional racism continues to blight black lives. Inadequate housing, the product of years discrimination and 'white flight', and poorly resourced schools lead to low educational achievement, lower admissions to colleges, and poor employment prospects."

I'd be very interested to see some of the statistics you mention.

[kateorman.livejournal.com]

Coincidentally, I just stumbled across an Australian equivalent - the lack of educational opportunities for Indigenous Australians (the uni is running a program to promote science to students.