Ok. In 2017, what are the institutional roadblocks? Which institution is set up specifically to hold black people back? And only black people, because other non-white people don't seem to have the same problem.
And I always hear about this institutionalized racism like it's a fact yet never hear of a solution against it. What can be done?
Before I leave this thread, I would like to point out, if you have to ask these questions, you are being willfully ignorant and that is something I will not stand for. Reasonably people can disagree reasonably (see, Dead President and I). But I will not stand idly by as you spout false statements. Now, more than ever, is it crucial that we not stand for "alternative facts."
On average, black men make 73 % of what white men make. So for every $1.00 a white man makes, on average a black man would make $0.73 (source, Pew Research study published in July 2016).
In terms of police stops, in the most recently reported year (2011), 13 % of the black population were stopped by police. 10 % were white. Of those stops, 84 % of the white people were pulled over for valid reasons. Only 68 % of the 13 % of black people were pulled over for valid reasons. Only 2 % of white drivers were searched in traffic stops. Compare that to 6 % of black drivers. All of these statistics can be attributed to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (a bureau of the United States Department of Justice).
There are two nuances that should be added to the BJS stats. First, though the numbers may seem small, these are out of total U.S. population. So a 3 or 4 % difference represents literally millions of Americans for each percentage point.
Second, these are, as mentioned, the numbers from 2011. The BJS compiles traffic stop stats once approximately every three years. So 2014 or 2015 numbers have been compiled but have not yet been calculated or released. Those numbers will likely show a rise in disparity between black and white people due to the rise of the BLM movement, which early studies indicate has led to increased enforcement against black people by police as push back.
These are simply two examples. There are more. Another example would be schools. High quality teachers generally avoid lower income districts. These schools are primarily populated by black students. These school districts are also generally funded poorly due to the tax income of their residents. This leads to poorer African Americans receiving lower quality, often inadequate, education (which limits opportunity for college and career choice later in life).
Further, you seem to operate under the faulty assumption that institutional racism is a bunch of white men, in a room, smoking cigars, evilly plotting to destroy black people and keep whites on top. Its not. Institutional racism are internalized feelings, policies, etc that have a disproportional impact on certain races.I t can be overt (i.e. a cop who intentionally follows and stops a black man because he is driving "too nice of a car" or is in "too nice of a neighborhood") or it can be covert. For example, Missing White Woman Syndrome. An observed and studied pattern of the media to give coverage to white women who go missing, are murdered, raped, etc while completely ignoring similar stories about women of color. This is not a case of a racist news producer saying "focus only on the whites!" Rather it is a subconscious effect caused by the fact that missing white women tend to play more to the sympathies of white people, who are the majority and therefore make up larger ratings blocs/newspaper sales demographics, etc. So they play up the stories that stir up the emotions of that group while ignoring those that do not. This would be an example of covert institutional racism.
Another example of covert institutional racism would be the effect of these policies. For example, African Americans are at higher risk of heart disease and diabetes due simply to the fact that junk food is cheaper and many African Americans live in poverty (due in part to the aforementioned factors). It can be as simple as that.
So there are five examples of road blocks that African Americans face in higher proportion than white people in 2017 due to institutional racism.
And to answer your question as to how to combat it, it largely starts with schools. As stated, primarily black school districts generally have poorer funding and due to that inferior teachers. Creating more opportunity for young African Americans by improving their quality of education would go a very long way.
It also starts with acknowledging a problem exists rather than brushing it off and saying "IN 2017 WE ARE TOO ENLIGHTENED FOR THIS NONSENSE!" Because institutional racism is often either overt but internalized (i.e. police pulling over black men) or covert, it is easy to ignore this problem. Simply acknowledging it and actively attempting to eliminate certain aspects (for example, improving quality of predominantly African American schools, ensuring pay equality) can go a long way.
As to institutionalized police racism, a lot of that can be solved with community policing. I am not going to get into a huge rigamaroll about what community policing is. You can Google it. But studies have shown that it OVERWHELMINGLY helps to combat institutional police racism and actually reduces crime as well.
Finally, to refute one more of your little alternative facts, it is not only a black thing. The BJS numbers are pretty similar between blacks and Latinos. Latino schools tend to suffer the same drawbacks as predominantly black schools, etc. So yep, not an exclusively black thing.
Anyway, I am outta this thread. Thank you for reminding me of why I avoid it like a plague.
