Financial effects of American racism

“By Betsy Leondar-Wright

How have I gained by being white? The Supreme Court’s mixed decisions on whether the University of Michigan may consider race in selecting students set me wondering about what preferences my own family might have received over the years

Like most people without inherited wealth, I tend to see my success as the result of my own hard work and abilities. My retirement accounts and the down-payment on my house were saved dollar-by-dollar out of my paychecks. I worked my way up from minimum wage jobs to become a salaried professional. Couldn’t someone of any race have done the same?

To see all the effects of race requires looking back a few generations. I left college with no student loans. Why was my father able to pay for my college education? As a World War II-era veteran, he went to graduate school on the GI Bill and got a subsidized mortgage from the Veterans Administration, benefits from which most veterans of color were excluded. As a homeowner, he got the mortgage interest deduction, a tax break unavailable to the majority of people of color who were renters.

Looking back another generation, my grandparents had Social Security benefits when they reached age 65 in the 1960s, relieving my father from the responsibility of supporting his parents. Since agricultural and domestic workers were excluded from the original Social Security law passed in 1935, most people of color in my grandparents’ generation put little or nothing into the Social Security system, and so got little or nothing at retirement. People of color my father's age were more likely to be supporting their parents and so less able to pay for their children’s college.

If I’d been born a person of color in 1956, the odds are very likely that I’d be less well off today. In 2001, the typical white family had $120,000 in net worth (assets minus debts), seven times as much as the $17,000 net worth of the typical family of color, according to new Federal Reserve data. Most white people are homeowners with retirement accounts thanks to government policies that boosted our parents’, grandparents’ and ancestors’ assets. The financial benefits of affirmative action programs are dwarfed by the benefits of, say, the Homestead Acts of 1862, which gave millions of acres to white settlers, and which excluded people of color.

When President Bush weighed in with the Supreme Court against the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy, he was acting within this long tradition of the federal government promoting the advancement of white Americans. There has been no legal challenge to Michigan’s preference for “legacy” applicants (children of alumni), or to the preference given to low-income white students. Only the boost to qualified applicants of color was attacked.

“Slavery was a long time ago,” goes the argument against preferences for African Americans. And it is true that the best-known transfers of wealth from people of color to white people – taking land from Native Americans and Mexicans, as well as slavery – are no longer in living memory of Americans today. Segregation and legal discrimination were outlawed with the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But long after de jure racism was past, policies with de facto racially disparate impact continued. White people still tend to get easier credit terms, better schools, shorter prison sentences, and more generous government benefits than people of color.

White people can be proud of our grandparents’, our parents’, and our own hard work, and still recognize that hard work is only one ingredient in gaining assets. Economic development requires government infrastructure of the kinds provided to white people throughout U.S. history.

What would it take to eliminate the racial wealth gap? Race-based affirmative action in college admissions, hiring, and promotion is just one of many elements needed to assist all low-income Americans to build basic assets. After WWII, the GI Bill built a white middle class. Now we need a new GI bill that gives opportunity to everyone.

As beneficiaries of white advantages in a democracy supposedly based on the principle that “all [humans] are created equal,” we white people have a responsibility to speak up for widening the circle of government support to include all Americans.

Betsy Leondar-Wright is the Communications Director at United for a Fair Economy and co-author of "Shifting Fortunes: The Perils of the Growing American Wealth Gap".”

“Make it stop already!

Start a new thread:

My BS Opinion Shoved down your throat!

Phagrus”

“Perhaps I should post a disclaimer with every article I post, which is accredited to someone else:

The above article is intended to stimulate dscussion on an issue that many people will find interesting. If you do not wish to add to the discussion, you are free to not read the thread. Further, resorting to adolescent name-calling will garner you no respect. Thank you.”

“but he cares more than anyone else......”

“I don't think many will find it interesting. Maybe your disclaimer should read.

The above article is intended to stimulate a one side discussion on an issue with a left liberal bias. If you do not believe or share the same opinion according to this article please don't add to the discussion for it may upset the individuals who have posted here. Further, the individuals who post here are very fragile so please only left liberal bias people can be allowed to make adolescent remarks. Thank You!”

“That is interesting Phaedrus......and sure to please the usual suspects~~%^]”

“There are none so blind...”

“let's ask economics Prof Walter WIlliams, or DR Thomas Sowell, or Justice Clarance Thomas, or Ken Hamblin(black conservatives) what they think about this.......


they will tell you that this tripe only continues racial animosity and demeans blacks”

“If anyone, left or right would like to comment on the specifics of the above article, I promise my ego can take it.”

“Some folks are so busy attacking others' points of view, they don't take any time to CONSIDER what the other person is try to convey.
Yes, some of the stuff is slanted, but that doesn't preclude anyone from considering its merit.”

“my comment is let racism die and quit muddying the water”

“Pointing out the very real implications of race in today's society in regard to wealth is "muddying the water"?”

“a man who had one black grandparent. has come out with a very interesting words on this and proposes that the government and schools collect no data on race. interracial marriage in blurring the racial lines. he says it's arbitrary and obtuse......i agree


let racism die....”

“let racism die...."
stratdewd
10:25:09 AM
06/29/03

Strat, It will never die, it will be here forever. There is more racism today than there was 30 or 40 yrs ago. It is more hidden now than it was then but it is still here.

It seems people's outlook on things change as they get older. You start to see things in a different light than you did when you were a teenager or in your 20's.

Just my opinion for what it is worth.”

“As opposed to sweeping it under the rug, I suppose.

It's funny. As much as Conservatives complain about Affirmative Action, when the opportunity arose they put it into practice in the most astounding way by appointing Clarence Thomas to the highest court in the land... What A Surprise. He certainly wasn't appointed due to any demonstration of judicial prowess.

He DID happen to be the best qualified African American Ultraconservative they could dig up --- a rare bird indeed.

It appears that Affirmative Action isn't so bad after all... as long as it furthers The Cause.”

“tilt, i think he makes a good point about mixed races....which is, how much black blood do you have to have to be black? tiger woods mom is asian.....is he black? hispanics often call themselves white....i will try to dig it up.....george will read it this morning and it was the most resonable thing i've heard in a while....


as far as justice thomas goes...i think the pepsi can clinched it for him....

GW bush sppointed more minorities to his cabinet than any other president...as long as we're keeping score....”

“As long as they are Ulraconservative... but who do they think they're fooling?”

“so it is your contention that colen powell and condy rice are unqualified? that there are better qualified whites? yes or no?

how bout jc watts? thomas sowell? alan keys? walter williams? they are all what you vilify as UNTRAconservative and black....

i'd rather have any of them as president over GW bush”

“You didn't respond At All to the Bush the Previous' Clarence Thomas Affirmative Action ploy.

I think some of those you mentioned might well be sellouts... like Thomas.


I'd still prefer most of them to Dubya, too, LOLOLOLOL... I gotta make a quick stop over at the Quotes thread.”

“Backpacking!

Signal to noise ratio is pretty abyssmal ehre. For all the talk some while back about the "other" board, fact is there's a whole lot more gear talk.”

“genetically, there is no such thing as race. theres no single black or white or oriental gene, unlike gender, where if a certain pair is xx, youre female, xy, youre male. race could be thought of as several general traits, but like strat said, its arbitrary, its what we assign the labels to that determines race.

and if we realize that there is no race, then we realize that affirmative action makes no sense. it only hurts in the long run those it purports to help. give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day, let him fish for himself and he will eat forever.”

“I think some of those you mentioned might well be sellouts... like Thomas.
Tilt


never toook you for a pu$$y tilt.....suprize suprize ..... you've been outed....by me. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA. i knew you wouldn't answer the question. thomas was a good pick, and you say he's not a real black unless he thinks a certain way......whatta joke you are. i heard thomas giving a speech to a group of college grads, and he said soemthing like this..."you have been taught that diversity is good. that skin color means you are diverse. but what about diversity of thought? have you rally been shown both sides, or have you been taught that only a certain way of thinking is correct?"


i thought you were better than that tilt.....



deedmiester, i'd rather talk gear too, just just can't let the libbies have a free ride....”

“So your response is to call me a "pussy"? Well, if you want to frame it in that fashion... Whatever, shit-for-brains.


Well dedawg, I believe the operant phrase is "How can we miss you when you won't go away?"

It's been said many times many ways, but why do people insinuate themselves into obviously political threads just to whine and bitch about them?

That IS a rhetorical question, BTW, LOL. I don't really give a flying #&%!$ why you do it.”

“im definatelly racists..i hate politicians...and spiders...and those G-D damn humans all make me sick!

hehehe”

“no, i just thought you wussed out tilt and avoided my question....

i repeat;

thomas was a good pick, and you say he's not a real black unless he thinks a certain way....... i heard thomas giving a speech to a group of college grads, and he said something like this..."you have been taught that diversity is good. that skin color means you are diverse. but what about diversity of thought? have you really been shown both sides, or have you been taught that only a certain way of thinking is correct?"”

“Funny thing is Affirmative Action is the most racist piece of crap that was ever spit out.”

“Julius Caesar Watts???

A middle age black woman I work with said, "With a name like that no wonder he sold out for the money.............good thing he's getting out of the House.....good riddance."”

“I've heard that Conservative bullshit line before and I simply don't buy it.

Does that answer your "question"?

LOLOL


There were many people (Conservatives, even!) who were much more qualified than Uncle Clarence. Period. All of those alleged principles of merit-based promotion went out the window when there were political points to be made.

The only problem was.... No one was fooled. It was obvious to everyone that his appointment was an insult to the legacy of Thurgood Marshall. Why do most African Americans see Clarence Thomas as a traitor? Ask them.”

“Can't we all just get along! Let hold hands now and sing some peace songs together!”

“Affirmative Action is like putting a bandaid on a gaping wound. The problems we have in this country is that racism still exists, but the vast majority take the position that if you don't stir stinking #&%!$ the flies will go away.

Well, guess what, it doesn't. Those who ignore racism under the banner of "it doesn't exist" are the worst of the lot. Acquiescence by silence is unforgivable in the pursuit of liberty.”

“What Trent Lott said......”

“The 'J.C.' in J.C. Watts is for 'Julius Caesar'???

Damn. That's even worse than James Tiberius Kirk, LOL”

“chili, i don't pretend it doesn't exist, i just think that it gets amplified too much, causing hostility all around. the liberals have to have racism (and poverty as well)to survive, so they keep it going.


Why do most African Americans see Clarence Thomas as a traitor? Ask them."
Tilt

because, as thomas himself said, they (and you) have been taught that if you don't think a certain way, you are not a REAL black person.



jc watts is no sellout. he is very intelligent(all the poeple i mentioned are) and he believes the things he says. i hope he runs for office again sometime, i'd vote for him in a heartbeat....”

“the liberals have to have racism (and poverty as well)to survive, so they keep it going.


Simply amazing.”

“Yeah Phaed. Don't you realize all that compassion and fairness business is just a cover for world domination?”

“Astounding, and yet... just another day in la-la land.


What did I say Strat? Ask Clarence? No... ask other African Americans about Clarence.

BTW --- How many African American Republicans are there in the House since J.C. left? I don't think there are any... but I just sent an email to the RNC to be sure. I womder how they will phrase their reply?”

“the liberals have to have racism (and poverty as well)to survive, so they keep it going.

stratdewd
03:26:52 PM
06/30/03

Stratdewd, I like you, but that statement is absolute bull#&%!$.”

“I like how some of you think politicians practice "that compassion and fairness business." It's cute.”

“it's true....if racism and poverty are solved, there is no reason to vote for liberals. look at the numbers.....most of their voters are off the tax roles, that's why they don't want to solve poverty but instead created a dependancy class.....same goes for racism. the liberal way of thinking creats reverse racism. i have encountered it many times. how is creating black hostility towards whites going to help the problem? i know there are those who think they are doing the right thing, but the leadership knows exactly what its doing, pouring salt on the wound, and then saying THEY are the only hope. i know ya'll can grasp this concept....give it a try....


from a black conservative(sellout according to tilt);

"Nowhere have people been willing to work as well for the common
good as they do for their own benefit. Perhaps in some other
galaxy there are creatures who would, but the track record of
socialism among human beings on earth shows that this is not
the place. Worst of all, the concentration of political power
necessary to try to reduce economic inequalities has allowed
tyrants like Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot to impose their notions
and caprices on millions of others -- draining them economically
or slaughtering them en masse or exploiting them sexually. Mao
Zedong, for example, had harems of young girls -- and occasionally
boys -- for his pleasure in various parts of China. There is
no point blaming the tragedies of socialism on the flaws or
corruption of particular leaders. Any system which allows some
people to exercise unbridled power over other people is an open
invitation to abuse, whether that system is called slavery or
socialism or something else. Socialism has long sought to create
a heaven on earth but an even older philosophy pointed out that
the road to hell is paved with good intentions." --Thomas Sowell





that's telling it like it is.....”

“Socialism has given rise to Staliin, Pol Pot, etc. No doubt, that's true.
Here's another truth. Unbridle capitalism, aided by favorable legislation, has given rise to Kenneth Lay, and the numerous CEO's who have committed financial terrorism upon millions of US citizens.”

“Strat, if I pay for a logic and critical thinking class for you, will you take it?”

“I'm serious. I'll buy books and pay tuition.”

“ok phaeddy, email me and i'll send you my address where you can send a check.....”

“You have mail. Sign up for the class, and send me the bill at the address I sent you. I'll pay for the books and tuition.”

“lemme look into it. i've never heard of a class called that. is there perhaps another name they might call it?”

“REPERATIONS! REPERATIONS! REPERATIONS!”

“Critical Thinking. It's usually a course listed in philosophy - a 100 level class. It might also be listed as Foundations in Logic or something of the sort.”

“Phaedrus I can think of several on this board that could use a class in proper debate/critical thinking.”

“it won't make me a liberal, if that's what you're shooting for.....”

“PHIL 2203, Logic

I found it in the course listing.”