Ahhh, that's such a good point. When I talk and think about poverty, I'm almost always referring to urban poverty - which is 100% a reflection of where I live, but obviously not true of the landscape of poverty nationwide.doublehoohopeful wrote:Haha, it makes sense.
Another huge factor that comes into play is where you live and how labor dynamics have played out. Take Appalachia for example. It has historically been one of the poorest areas of the United States, especially so with the fall of coal mining. It is also overwhelmingly white. Post-WWII Baltimore or Detroit? Two of the most prosperous cities in the world. Without jobs, these and other rust belt cities are nowhere near how they used to be and due to white flight, largely black populations are suffering.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share that, General! That was an esp. good point that the racist/negative voices tend to be the loudest and therefore affect outsiders' perceptions the most.Generally wrote:I wouldn't call the cycle of poverty "racist". I think for something to be racism there need to be an intention to discriminate and hold back another race. What initially caused the cycle to start may have been racist, but the cycle of poverty affects people regardless of race.doublehoohopeful wrote:I think The Wire, especially season 4, does a great job of looking into this (and I agree, consistent disparities in educational resources based on race is indeed institutional racism, even if nobody is being explicitly racist).urbanist11 wrote:I think the latter example re: poverty an education is exactly an example of institutional racism (ie how the past perpetuates itself and leads to today's conditions)
I'm with urbanist&co. that the last thing you described is pretty much the textbook definition of institutional racism though. (One working definition, which I lifted from wikipedia oops, is "the collective failure of an organization to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin"). Unlike your "typical" racism, which as you say is motivated by hatred/bigotry, the whole challenge of institutional racism is that it's much more invisible and that absolutely well-intentioned, non-bigoted people can be complicit in it without even realizing it. I'd also argue that it requires much a much more proactive response.
It's also absolutely not just a southern thing, though - it's just as big a problem nationwide.
Anyways. Thanks again, that was an interesting 7 AM read!
