It is difficult to read anything written by a Leftist without seeing the words “systemic racism” used to explain an issue. Systemic racism is blamed when a white police officer kills a black thug resisting arrest. When a black woman is raising her children without the father, the cause is systemic racism. When a black student fails to graduate from college, systemic racism is the culprit.
Wikipedia defines systemic racism (also called institutional racism) as “a form of racism that is embedded through laws within society or an organization.” It is a form of racism separate from individual bigots. Systemic racism is a part of a culture’s economic and justice systems.
To support this claim of systemic racism, advocates point to disparities between blacks and whites. As one example of systemic racism, this website states that 65 percent of black children live in a single-parent home, compared to 24 percent of white children. As another example from the same website, only 46 percent of black college students finish a four-year degree within six years, compared to 72 percent of white college students.
According to the advocates of systemic racism, such stark disparities can only be explained by institutional discrimination and bias. And if the system is so unfair and prejudiced, then the system must be changed.
The system that they are targeting is capitalism—the economic/political system that protects individual rights, including property rights. The system that exists in America today is not capitalism. It is a mixed system with some elements of freedom and a growing list of government controls and restrictions. It is the remnants of capitalism that the systemic racism advocates want to eliminate. And they want to eliminate these remnants because under capitalism or even-semi-capitalism, disparate results are an inevitable outcome.
The goal of the systemic racism crusaders isn’t the elimination of racism. As evidence, consider the fact that nearly all of their policy recommendations call for benefits to individuals based on their race. A serious opponent of racism does not advocate policies that institute racism in another form. The real goal of this movement is the elimination of freedom under the guise of removing the legacy of slavery.
