Wednesday, June 03, 2020

What The Heck Is "Systemic Racism?"



Good news: After three months, the coronavirus has been knocked off the front page.

Bad news: It’s been replaced by riots in our cities.


On Monday of last week, a horrified world watched Minneapolis Police officer Derek Chauvin kill a handcuffed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck while he pleaded for mercy. My first question is: why wasn’t Chauvin arrested for murder until Friday?


My second question is: how does anyone know racism made Chauvin do that? Because the cop is white and the victim was black? Could Chauvin be an equal opportunity brute? Looking for evidence that he’s racist, all I could find was a Mercury News interview with the owner of a nightclub at which, ironically, both Chauvin and Floyd worked, Floyd as a bouncer. The owner said Chauvin was overly aggressive with black patrons who were fighting compared to Hispanic patrons who were.


If, as reported in multiple venues, there were multiple previous complaints about Chauvin, how did he keep his job? The police commissioner is black. The state attorney general is black. The US Congresswoman for the district is black. Leftist Democrats have controlled the city and state for decades. All have more influence on local police behavior than some nebulous concept like “systemic racism.” 


Rather than look in the mirror, they blame others. Some blamed President Trump. Minnesota Governor Walz blamed drug cartels. Minnesota Department of Public Safety Commissioner, John Harrington blamed white supremacists. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey also blamed white supremacists, organized crime, and foreign elements, then he actually cried at a press conference.


Leftist Mainstream Media blame systemic racism. On leftist Joy Reid’s MSNBC show over the weekend, author Bakari Sellers said: “This is not just about George Floyd. This is about systemic racism and systemic injustice and systemic oppression.” Also appearing was Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MIN) in whose district the riots began. She and Joy Reid nodded solemnly while Sellers blamed systemic racism. On ABC’s “This Week last Sunday, Omar said: ”There really was also many people who chose to demonstrate and not abide by the curfew, who felt like they also were terrorized by the presence of tanks, by the presence of the National Guard, and a militarized police.”


The long-time, left-wing paper called; The Nation, ran the headline: “There’s Only One Possible Conclusion: White America Likes Its Killer Cops.” Writer Elie Mystal claims: “The police are never going to voluntarily stop killing black and brown people… until the majority of white people in this country make the killings stop.”


Leftist public schools are teaching lessons on “systemic racism,” but what, exactly, is that? If you look it up you won’t find a definition that doesn’t employ circular reasoning. Google it, for example, and among the first hits will be Ben & Jerry’s take, entitled: "7 Ways We Know Systemic Racism Is Real." The first way is: “Racism At Every Level of Society” and it goes on listing racial disparities in wealth distribution, education, housing, and health care. All are assumed to be caused by racism of whites against blacks — circular reasoning again.


During the Obama administration, the US Department of Education started offering lessons on "systemic racism" for public schools using the same circular reasoning: ”Implicit racial bias can help us to better understand how institutional [systemic] racism and other forms of bias affect educational experiences of students from marginalized communities.” They, too, list the disparities and blame racism.


Several of our big-city police chiefs blame Antifa for turning peaceful demonstrations into riots. So does Attorney General Barr and President Trump. Meanwhile, Democrat NYC Mayor DiBlasio’s daughter was arrested for throwing rocks at police. Democrat Representative Ilhan Omar’s daughter tweeted support for rioters. Minnesota Attorney General and former congressman Keith Ellison. So did his son. All are Democrats and Keith Ellison is a former DNC Chairman.


Look around at the cities in which people are rioting. All have been run by Democrats for decades. There’s definitely a pattern here but don’t expect Mainstream Media to report on it.

18 comments:

Brian said...

I only read the title and realized I would be wasting my time reading about how some privileged old white dude is unable to comprehend systemic racism. People bragging about their ignorance is not my thing.

CaptDMO said...

The easy way to become woke to systematic racism is simply conclude any personal shortcomings with "It's not my fault because..."
"I'd secretly be smarter, richer, happier than you, but for..." works in a pinch.

Reality Check said...

General Mattis:

"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership.

"When I joined the military, some 50 years ago, I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution.Never did I dream that troops taking that same oath would be ordered under any circumstance to violate the Constitutional rights of their fellow citizens -- much less to provide a bizarre photo op for the elected commander-in-chief, with military leadership standing alongside."

He went own to comment on the attempt to distract from the real issue by focusing on the tiny percentage of looters and rioters:

"We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values -- our values as people and our values as a nation,"

General John Allen:

"It wasn't enough that peaceful protesters had just been deprived of their first-amendment rights—this photo-op sought to legitimize that abuse with a layer of religion. At the White House, there is no one home."

Greg Vander Veer said...

Tom McGlauglin's latest column shows us once again how incapable he is of looking beyond his own experiences and political ideology. To him, the only problem with the world is liberal politicians and the "mainstream media". He just can't fathom perhaps he doesn't understand the experiences of Black Americans, LGBT Americans, Mexican Americans, etc. At at time when we all should be listening and struggling to understand experiences completely unfamiliar to us, instead he engages in pedantic, pseudo-intellectual arguments intended to discredit real life experiences. Tom has no answers to anything. He is merely a political idealogue wildly impressed with his own evermore predictable and dull opinions. I know this is in vain, but Tom I highly suggest you stick to columns about photographs, chopping wood and your trips to Ireland as you are completely incapable of writing intelligently about the current events you pretend to know so much about.

Cover Charge said...

My life experiences have been far different than what is betrayed on the news. I have never witnessed racism furthermore I have found that one or two people of ethnicity are far more welcome in a crew of Whites than one or two Whites in a crew of Blacks or Hispanics. In my view the reverse of systematic racism is reality; people of color are given more chances or benefit of the doubt as to avoid any hint of racism.

TRD said...

Cover Charge, that was spoken like a truly naive and sheltered caucasian.

But I'm so sorry that you and your fellow "Whites" have to endure such hardship from unwelcoming "Blacks" and Hispanics while those pampered minorities catch all the breaks. Stay strong, you shall overcome!

Anonymous said...

Hey Tom,

Some facts for ya regarding Antifa:

I have been reading up on and learning a lot in the last few days about Antifa, White Nationalists, Boogaloo Boys, Proud Boys, KKK, etc. I have been doing research to see who has caused what damage over what periods of time. If you are more worried about Antifa than White Supremacists it is because you are either uninformed or you are white person who supports Donald Trump. (edit: I just realized this statement is somewhat redundant - although it is slightly possible to uninformed and not support Donald Trump as well - but it does not work the other way)

One stat - and then I suggest you stop listening to the president and the attorney general lie to you about issues of national security (which is a huge violation of their constitutional sworn duty) and start doing some research yourself about who poses the greatest danger by extremism in this country.

Here ya go all you people who are skeered of Antifa. EVERY YEAR since 1995 the greatest number of murders attributed to extremist groups in the United States have been committed by White Nationalists (aka racist white people). In that same period of time, Antifa has been responsible for ZERO deaths.

And just a little more information that you might find interesting. Over the past decade, extremists of every stripe have killed 372 Americans. 74 percent of those killings were committed by right wing extremists. Only 2 percent of those deaths were at the hands of left wing extremists. None of the 2 percent of left wing extremists murders involved Antifa.

So maybe somebody can explain why Trump and Barr are singling out Antifa as the 'extremist danger' in this country. I'll just say this... their motives are 'extremely' bad.
And don't trust my numbers. Look it up yourself.

Brian said...

Oooh, that will be totally ignored inside this "safe place" bubble! How dare you try and take away this boogeyman scare tactic! You and your facts, pshaw. ANTIFA = Antichrist. There is no evil worse. They murder white babies by the bushel. You are just brainwashed into believing reality.

Steve said...

Pull up any article on yahoo.com about a black person, especially one who is accused of a crime, got into a fight or served as President. Then read through the comments. You’ll find all the racism you can stand. Anyone from any race can be a racist, and I’m sure every race has a percent of racists among them. For me, it comes down to the extent of the racist’s reach. How many people are impacted by racist’s reach? How many people does the racist harm with the racism? Take a look at this link. It’s a short clip from the O’Reily factor where he talks with Senator McCain:

https://twitter.com/BenjaminPDixon/status/1143265334088085511?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1143265334088085511&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yahoo.com%2Fhuffpost%2Fbill-o-reilly-racist-white-men-082929486.html

In the clip, O’Reily fears “the end of the white, Christian, male power structure.” Wouldn’t it stand to reason that a white-oriented, male-oriented, Christian-oriented societal power structure provide some privilege – intended or incidental – to the white, Christian, males in said society? He’s referring to a power structure of white-owned businesses, white judges, white senior executives, white boards of directors, white superintendents, white politicians, white military leadership and officers, white ambassadors, white talk-show hosts, etc? It sounds like he’s bracing himself for people of color achieving more positions of influence. Doesn’t that sound like racism, or discrimination at the very least, at the ready?

Get Real said...

Tom claims systematic racism can't be proved because of "circular reasoning".

So, let's take a look at the years immediately following desegregation and the passing of new civil rights laws in the deep south. Blacks had a hard time getting hired and had worse education, housing, and health care than their white counterparts. Not to mention harassed and beaten for things like looking at a white woman. Blatant, obvious and undeniable racism? No, because that would be "assuming" it was all caused by racism of whites against blacks — circular reasoning again, right? That is exactly what you are claiming now with the racial disparities pointed out today in the Ben & Jerry's piece you cite.

An example of "circular reasoning" would be - "The Bible is true, so you should not doubt the Word of God"

What you are doing is sophomoric reasoning.

Paul Getchell said...

Mr. McLaughlin, you ask, “What the heck Is Systemic Racism?”

Good question. I think if you embrace the American ideals of freedom and equality, it is important to understand the term systemic racism. Below, I’ve entered some writing by Judge J. Harvey Wilkinson III, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. By the way, Judge Wilkinson was appointed to the court by Ronald Reagan in 1984.

“The phrase ‘institutional theory of racism’ [Systemic Racism] is used to refer to a
current in the study of racism that views contemporary racial discrimina-
tion or inequality not so much as the result of individual bigotry or
prejudice, but rather as the result of institutions and policies.”

“First, racism should not be defined in terms of beliefs,
attitudes, or behavioral dispositions, but rather in terms of negative or
unequal outcomes such as the racially unequal distribution of a good (e.g.,
Brown et al. 2003, 17). Second, modern racism should not be explained
by reference to the actions of prejudiced individuals, but rather by
reference to policies or institutions that perpetuate inequality.”

“The Dimensions of American Constitutional Equality” by J. Harvey Wilkinson III
Law and Contemporary Problems, Duke University School of Law, 1992

voter said...

Has everybody been enjoying the throngs of protesters daily throughout the country? You got all giddy about the crowds at the Trump Clown Circus Rallies. Guess what...these protesters won't be voting for the clown.

Brian said...

General Mattis, Colin Powell and so many more true patriots and war heroes are saying they won't be voting for Trump. Only those holding on to reasons other than country and the Constitution are remaining loyal.

Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrHIQIO_bdQ

Tom McLaughlin said...

You're not the first to send me that video and I watched it. It's boilerplate leftist propaganda which I can refute on multiple levels. Here are just two: First: Majority-black public schools in Washington DC are funded at twice the per-pupil level compared to almost all schools in majority-white areas for a half century. Second: For over fifty years, blacks have been favored over other racial groups in college admissions, hiring, and small-business contracts. It's called "affirmative action." When I write columns calling it discrimatory, I'm labeled "racist."

Anon said...

I find it incredible that your number one reason for refuting systemic racism is by stating funding info from school districts in DC, representing about 0.002% of the US population. That is like saying that California is not a liberal state because Shasta County is quite conservative. Also, saying that systematic racism does not exist because there is a program to help out minorities makes no sense. Is air pollution not a problem because of the Clean Air Act? Does Guatemala not have poverty issues because the US, (after backing a 1954 coup against a democratically elected president and helping instal military leadership which resulted in genocide) now give them financial aid? The issue of systemic racism goes much deeper than the levels you mentioned. You will never understand it with shallow thinking.

Unknown said...

Gov. Beshear announces plans to provide 100-percent health coverage for black residents to correct correcting inequalities. Is that inequalities for the rest of population?

https://www.wave3.com/2020/06/08/gov-beshear-announces-plans-provide-percent-health-coverage-black-residents/

Anonymous said...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0lNR7wHdvw

What could possible be argued with this video?