Racism Is More A Product Than A Problem

Racism still exists in this country. But it does so on a remarkably small level compared to both history and other countries around the world.

Racism Compared

Despite all the commotion, just how racist is the US? Facts suggest that it is among the least racist countries in the world. Jamie Weinstein provides this perspective:

America Is Among Least Racist Countries In The World

With all the recent race clang clanging on MSNBC and other cable news networks, now’s probably a good time to remind everyone that America is among the least racist countries in the world.

 

I know this statement will be shocking news to regular viewers of “PoliticsNation,” but it also has the quality of being true.

From 2010 to 2014, the World Values Survey asked residents in over 50 countries who they would not want as neighbors. Just over 5 percent of respondents in the United States said “people of a difference race.” That’s far more tolerant a response than citizens of most European, African and Asian countries gave. As a comparison, 15 percent of Germans, 41 percent of Indians and 22 percent of Japanese said they wouldn’t want to live next to “people of a different race.” The Washington Post depicted the results in a useful chart.

The survey is probably not a perfect indicator of how pervasive racism is in a given society, but the results do correlate with what we know anecdotally. Take, for instance, the fact that America elected and then reelected a black man for president.

Yes, I know. Some in the civil rights industry like to argue that this doesn’t mean anything. But of course it does. Blacks make up just 13 percent of the U.S. population. There aren’t too many examples of a democratic country electing someone from such a distinct and previously persecuted minority to their top office.

It is totally impossible, for instance, to imagine a person of color being elected to lead any major country in Europe, at least anytime in the near future. Same with Canada. Same with a racial or religious minority anywhere in Asia or Africa. Perhaps there are examples of leaders from minority groups being elected in free and open elections to the top office of the land in a few countries, but none come immediately to mind. Even the white interim president of Zambia doesn’t exactly qualify because he wasn’t elected to the post. The point is, if it is not unprecedented, it is pretty rare. It means something that the United States elected an African-American president.

The United States is also a country where seven of the eight most powerful celebrities, according to Forbes, are African American. That’s an amazing statistic — one also not indicative of a virulently racist society. Ayatollah Khamenei may attack America on Twitter as a racist country over the recent events in Ferguson, but I can assure you the most powerful celebrities in Iran aren’t Jewish.

If the best examples Al Sharpton can draw upon to prove America is a place where black people are routinely killed by cops without punishment are the Michael Brown and Eric Garner cases, then it just shows you how weak his narrative is.

We don’t have cameras to know exactly went on in Ferguson, but the preponderance of evidence suggests that Officer Darren Wilson didn’t randomly shoot and kill Michael Brown for kicks and giggles. The Garner case appears far more problematic in terms of how the police acted, but even Garner’s family doesn’t think what happened had a racial component.

Cops sometimes overreact and there are probably too many police shooting deaths in the United States, but the Brown and Garner cases hardly demonstrate that racist cops are regularly and deliberately killing African-Americans with impunity.

native advertising

None of this is to say that there is no racism in America anymore or that terribly racist events never occur here. There is and they sometimes do. We need and can do better as a country, but we also ought put things in perspective. We have come a long way since the 1950s. Far from being a bastion of racism, America today is in fact one of the least racist countries in the world.

Follow Jamie on Twitter

Why Racism Is Important

Mr. Weinstein’s perspective is one that most Americans believe and should believe. Sadly, there are elements in this country who thrive and even survive on racism. It is not the practice of racism that benefits these people. It is convincing others that racism exists that is their scheme.

Racism is a product for these people. It is sold like other products and with similar rewards. Big dollars and votes are the rewards. The beneficiaries of these rewards are the race hustlers and the politicians. Bruce Thornton explains:

Since the rise of identity politics and anti-poverty programs in the 60s, the plight of the black underclass has worsened, even as the self-selected race tribunes––professors, “activists,” lobbyists, government employees, celebrities, politicians––have flourished. Given that the moral capital financing the race industry comes from the misery and suffering of underclass blacks, race-grievance entrepreneurs must ward off solutions to those problems that challenge the narrative justifying their own power.

Some race hustlers have dedicated their entire lives to the promotion of racism. For them, it is an occupation not unlike ambulance chasing. Keeping racism alive keeps them in the spotlight. It provides fame and fortune for these pimps that exceeds what they could obtain pimping street wares.

The Democrat Party sells racism as a product. This Party has no discernible governing strategy. It only has an election strategy and that is based on the notion of oppression. They identify and classify voters by group and then claim specific oppression of one sort or the other. Other than government workers, every Democrat constituency is  told they are oppressed. Blacks, for whatever reasons, have fallen for the fake compassion more than any other group based on the 95% or so who vote Democrat. The pretense of racism is necessary in order to keep blacks on the Democrat Plantation. If the Democrats lost even a small share of this vote, their viability as a meaningful national party would be threatened.

Democrats are now targeting Hispanics as the next oppressed group. Democrats pretend to be for amnesty regardless of the law in order to create and mine this new potential voting constituency. Republicans are painted as hating Hispanics just like they are supposed to hate blacks, women, welfare recipients, LGBTs, etc. etc. Any constituent of the Democrat Party is claimed to be a hate target of the Republican Party.

The Tragedy of Claiming Racism

False claims of racism are tragic. They make minorities believe that their fate in life has been pre-determined. Racism means they have no control over their future. If success is based on color or some other attribute, study and work to achieve success becomes meaningless. Because your ability doesn’t count, why bother to try? How many young people have been brainwashed into believing this nonsense? How many valuable lives were not fulfilled as a result? Conveying this poison is equivalent to a form of child molestation!

Continuing to perpetuate the myths of racism is dangerous to society. Pitting groups against each other substitutes anger and force for voluntary interactions and transactions. Social friction helps no one. When people see themselves as anything but Americans, society becomes coarser and less safe. Encouraging or condoning riots in places like Ferguson sets the stage for something much bigger. If society unravels, the minorities will come out on the short end. That has been the history of minority-majority conflicts throughout history. Don’t pick a fight where you are obviously outnumbered. Don’t pick a fight or be drawn into one that you cannot possibly win.

Unfortunately the race pimps and politicians who benefit from racial strife are not going to quit so long as they personally benefit. Nor do these low-life leeches care about the costs to the country. Their personal advantage is all that matters. If other Americans have to be sacrificed to advance their pursuits, so be it. Eggs need to be broken in order to make an omelet.