Educated By Google Instead of Black People
Let’s learn directly from the community.
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There’s a gigantic disconnect between what many white people think is or isn’t happening to Black people and what most Black people in America experience.
Here’s a significant reason why.
Virtually every time someone points out the deep systemic racism that pervades many aspects of society — in housing, education, policing, health care, access to healthy food, and so on — a common response is to research with the intention of disproving that our vast racial disparities are connected to race issues or the deep unconscious bias we all suffer from.
This latest cadre of racism deniers comes in the form of fighting so-called “wokeness.”
I don’t care much for the term, but if being woke means fighting unjust systems, then I suggest the racist deniers drink more coffee.
For them, unless someone shouts racist comments or verbalizes their xenophobia in favor of a policy, behavior, or system, it can’t possibly be racist. Unless a law states on its face states that it’s racist, it can’t be racist, right?
We Google and Google in search of the articles and studies that prove what we already thought. The Internet is a big place, so I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for.
As with most things, seemingly unlimited so-called studies support one’s pre-existing worldview. All with flaws, of course.
There’s one study, for example, that shows there isn’t a disparity in police killing of white versus Black people. And yet another study shows that when it comes to unarmed Black people, the racial disparity is profound.
But how many of us take the time to get to know our Black brothers and sisters? Our coworkers and neighbors? The people we see in coffee shops, grocery stores, sporting events, and the like.
How many of us include people who are Black, Latino, Muslim, or Jewish in our intimate circle of friends?
How many of us have spent the time actually asking affected people about their experiences?
Would you still argue against the prevalence of systemic racism in our police if nine out of 10 of…