Ever hear someone say something like, “Hey, wow, great news everybody! Racism’s over! We fixed it!” They’re genuinely excited that we elected an African-American president. They’ll tell you how the first mainstream black superhero character, Black Panther, just appeared in a big new movie. And by the way, P.K. Subban is a hockey star!

It’s hard to imagine what might be left on the end-racism to-do list, right?

Well, you might want to suggest that they not start tossing the confetti around just yet. Yeah, it seems there’s still a little something called systemic racism—and it’s real.

Racism at Every Level of Society

Systemic racism is about the way racism is built right into every level of our society. Many people point to what they see as less in-your-face prejudice and bias these days, compared to decades past, but as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”

While fewer people may consider themselves racist, racism itself persists in our schools, offices, court system, police departments, and elsewhere. Think about it: when white people occupy most positions of decision-making power, people of color have a difficult time getting a fair shake, let alone getting ahead. Bottom line: we have a lot of work to do.

Here are seven ways we know that systemic racism exists.

WEALTH



According to one study, white families hold 90% of the national wealth, Latino families hold 2.3%, and black families hold 2.6%. Not only that, the Great Recession hit minority families particularly hard, and the wealth gap has increased. Think about this: while median wealth for a single white woman in the US is $41,000, the median wealth for a black woman is $100. And for single Latinas it’s $120. That’s almost unbelievable—and it’s a huge racial-justice issue.

EMPLOYMENT



It’s next to impossible to build wealth without steady and rewarding employment. But the black unemployment rate has been consistently twice that of whites 3302-2x-unemployed.jpgover the past 60 years, no matter what has been going on with the economy (whether it’s been up or down). Hmm, maybe higher education would help with that? Well, according to the data, blacks with college degrees are twice as likely to be unemployed as all other graduates. That may be because, as one study found, job applicants with white-sounding names get called back about 50% more of the time than applicants with black-sounding names, even when they have the same exact resumes. (This seems to be a widespread problem: guests with distinctively black names even get less positive reviews from property owners on Airbnb.)

The Rest: http://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/systemic-racism-is-real