Logistics of Racism

"Racial neutrality." Lets think about this concept. Racial neutrality would be a pretty hard thing to accomplish in such a diverse and complex world. There would have to be very conscious considerations and efforts taken to make something racially neutral. In fact it is probably impossible, but there are ways to attempt to make a system seem more fair.

I thought this quote was great: "Although most of these criteria appear neutral on their face, as we have explained, many actually have profound racial implications." So there are actually political consulting firms like the Cerrell Associates of LA that write reports, one called Political Difficulties Facing Waste-to-Energy Conversion Plant Citing (I can never get over how unassuming they make these names sound), that describes the kind of community that would offer "the least potential of generating public opposition." Some of the supposedly race neutral criteria for these communities (land distribution for instance) end linking back to slavery.... thats not racist at all!

There haven't been persistent or genuine enough measures taken to mitigate segregative effects of slavery and racism. Racism is still there. Its really really there, it didn't go anywhere. We have just found ways to lie to ourselves and set up political and economic systems where we can hide and make a face value attempt to say that something isn't racist... when it is. It has just been veiled.... as "lifestyle" and "market dynamics." I do have to admit that little section kind of went over my head, and I think its because the ideas themselves don't actually make any sense. They are incredibly superficial and ignorant to a much deeper social and cultural context.

None of this racist system really makes any sense. Institutionalization. We have come up with so many ways to turn a blind eye to racism. Even if we were blind wouldn't really disappear because the effects of racism already produced inequalities that could potentially be race neutral. "State permitting laws remain neutral, or blind, toward these inequalities; they therefore perpetuate, and indeed exacerbate, distributional inequalities."