Originally posted by QuirtEvans: Yeah, pretty easily.
There is systemic racism. And, even though we may be well-meaning, it affects current black and brown people.
And she gives good clear examples designed to appeal to the reason and experience of people whose political instincts lead them to dismiss ideas like "systemic racism" before they have even engaged their brains.
Posts: 12539 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005
In the white collar tech jobs with which I am familiar, dark skinned people are over-represented. It's just that they are not African Americans. For an explanation of why that is, biases of white people for other white people is not sufficient. And while it is reasonable to expect such biases to exist (and not unique to white people), the interesting question will always be, to what extent does it matter, as compared to every other factor.
In my neighborhood, there's a crazy white guy who lives next to a park. Once when my wife and I were walking past, my dog stepped through his open gate and onto his paved walkway. I pulled my dog back and kept walking, thinking nothing of it. The guy came storming out of his house to confront me about my dog trespassing. I apologized and he backed down. A couple days ago on a social website called NextDoor where people who live in the same neighborhood can chat with each other, a black person in my neighborhood wrote a post about how her husband had been accused by a white guy at that park of following him. This was racism and there was no doubt. There was discussion of starting a BLM march down my very street. I chimed in with my story, and others chimed in with their stories. It was the same guy and I and others suggested that this didn't necessarily have to do with race. Then another black person related yet another story, and scolded everybody who was trying to downplay the racial aspect. The guy was racist and her experience, as well as the original poster's, was one of racism and anybody who questioned that was just another "all lives matter" racist dog whistler. These mind worms are pervasive but I do not believe that this person is happier because she perceives all such life experiences to be at a different level of painfulness because of her skin color. So while we're quibbling about the effect of "looks like me" bias in hiring processes, maybe we should pay some attention to the effect of those mind worms that make people believe all their life experiences are fundamentally different and more painful because of their skin color.
Posts: 900 | Location: Bay Area of CA | Registered: 21 April 2005
Originally posted by Horace: In the white collar tech jobs with which I am familiar, dark skinned people are over-represented. It's just that they are not African Americans. For an explanation of why that is, biases of white people for other white people is not sufficient. And while it is reasonable to expect such biases to exist (and not unique to white people), the interesting question will always be, to what extent does it matter, as compared to every other factor.
In my neighborhood, there's a crazy white guy who lives next to a park. Once when my wife and I were walking past, my dog stepped through his open gate and onto his paved walkway. I pulled my dog back and kept walking, thinking nothing of it. The guy came storming out of his house to confront me about my dog trespassing. I apologized and he backed down. A couple days ago on a social website called NextDoor where people who live in the same neighborhood can chat with each other, a black person in my neighborhood wrote a post about how her husband had been accused by a white guy at that park of following him. This was racism and there was no doubt. There was discussion of starting a BLM march down my very street. I chimed in with my story, and others chimed in with their stories. It was the same guy and I and others suggested that this didn't necessarily have to do with race. Then another black person related yet another story, and scolded everybody who was trying to downplay the racial aspect. The guy was racist and her experience, as well as the original poster's, was one of racism and anybody who questioned that was just another "all lives matter" racist dog whistler. These mind worms are pervasive but I do not believe that this person is happier because she perceives all such life experiences to be at a different level of painfulness because of her skin color. So while we're quibbling about the effect of "looks like me" bias in hiring processes, maybe we should pay some attention to the effect of those mind worms that make people believe all their life experiences are fundamentally different and more painful because of their skin color.
Are you white? If so, you have no clue what you are talking about and you should be damned grateful that you don't.
-------------------------------- fear is the thief of dreams
Jodi
