Poor Blacks Have It Worse Than Poor Whites

The controversial 2007 Meredith Decision has our Chief Justice saying that “The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/washington/29scotus.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0. This would be all well and good, if racism still wasn't still an issue.

I wrote an article about the “achievement gap” at my local school paper, and many times, I wrote how the whites kids were doing better than the Black kids, in income, in access to better jobs, in grades, and I also noted that in the forum I was at, the only other white person there was a reporter. The University paper censored that part out of the story. For a country that has a majority white population, white becomes invisible, and Black is seen, but white is not. Currently, I am living in a county in Kentucky that has a 96% white population, and yet, there's still elements of racism around, such as Confederate flags, and anonymous racists flooding public forums online. While the white supremacists of our grandfathers may only infect a small percentage of the white population, because the Don Imus's and Donald Sterling's are shamed out of their positions, so that speaks to the majority of white folks who are just as disgusted with racism as I am. But there's undercurrents that exist today. There's still effects from institutional racism, and then there's the New Jim Crow, which criminalizes Black youths for trumped up, or petty crimes, and then that puts them into a revolving door, in and out of jail, since their background check has some blights on it. They can't get good jobs, they seek money through criminal means, and now, their lives are stuck on the streets, hustling illegally, or going to prison, and serving years behind bars in an 8 by 8 foot cell block. While in jail, the jail officials puts those prisoners to work, and hence, the New Jim Crow. Free labor from Black slavery.

Chris Rock points out that talking about racism is what seems to be the topic of discussion, but not talking about racists. So while it seems like we acknowledge that racism exists, the problem is us talking about it, and not us solving it. This is clearly misguided. I also learn from another great comedic philosopher, who goes by the name of Bill Burr, and he points out how he had a bum wrap growing up, and that goes to the crux of the situation. It's one of poverty, and living in unsafe conditions. Again, we're seeing societal failures in our culture. So while the poor Black girl is moving from house to house, sleeping on the back porch of her grandmother's house one night, then at another house the next night, or having to hear gunshots ringing all throughout the night, the poor white girl may have similar problems.

While knowing that an achievement gaps exists, I fear that will only justify the racist policies that's affecting Black America. From the data, folks will say it's genetic, or that Black folks have a culture problem, or other issues that focus on Blacks folks themselves, and not the white society around them, when it may be both. We already have the data, we see there's a problem, so now we need to fix it, and that will even take a change of heart in our politicians' minds, or a mass mobilization of the public, white, black, and brown, calling for those changes. Bill Burr says it crudely, but he says that he had to eat a “shit sandwich” too. So the focus on race may point out the problems that Black folks are having, but if we are to ignore the similar problems that poor white folks are having, then we won't see the change we need. In fact, it may have the opposite affect, whereas poor whites will see people of color getting the help they need, when they themselves need the same help, it can only increase racism and resentment. The problems of poverty, drug abuse, police brutality, and crime are issues that cuts across many different colors in our society, and while Blacks are getting the shaft the worst, it doesn't negate the problems that poor whites are also getting hit with. Poor whites have a “shit sandwich” and Blacks having a shittier “shit sandwich” doesn't negate the issues of Poor whites. Therefore the shift needs to be directed towards the root problems of those issues--class issues, issues of inequality, violent crime, police brutality, lack of jobs--instead of just the focus of race.