Ross Douthat has an interview with a hard right evangelical Christian podcaster named Allie Beth Stuckey in today’s NYT. Most of the interview revolved around her views on culture war issues; I have not yet decided how, if at all, to respond to them. As a sort of throw-away, however, she argued that white people should not be blamed for what happened to black people 200, or even 50, years ago. That is a typical response to questions about systemic racism by reactionaries. Is it the correct way to analyze the problem?
No. Here are two facts about racism that cannot be disputed:
- Black people were subjected to both de jure and de facto racism from the beginning of colonization until, at the very earliest, the middle of the 1960s.
- Black people have less wealth, lower incomes, shorter life spans, poorer housing, and less education than white people on average as of the day I am writing this.
Individual “blame” is not really the issue. Here are the pertinent questions:
- Do you agree that #2 above is the result of #1? If not, how do you explain the discrepancy?
- If your answer to the first question is yes, do you think this is a problem that government is required to address, or do you believe average conditions are irrelevant, because America is a nation built purely on individuals, not groups?
- If you think the discrepancies should be addressed by government, what is the best way to deal with them?
The hard right never gets to #3. To the center and the left, it is the only issue that is reasonably debatable.