The Meaning of “Systematic” in “Systematic Racism”

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Subject: The Meaning of “Systematic” in “Systematic Racism”
From: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
Date: Fri, August 14, 2020 8:15 am MST
To: The Attendees of Our 8/12/2020 Meeting
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Dear Friends,

I’ve lost a lot of sleep the last two nights since our meeting over – and spent quite a bit of daytime hours as well pondering – why we spent so much time Wed evening discussing the meaning of “systematic” in “systematic racism.”

Obviously it is an epithet and all of us like to think we are good.

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And at least in my case, you have all heard more times than you care to remember how I was within 60 seconds of being assassinated (according to the NC State Police) in Bertie County NC the summer of 1966 before my last year of law school when I was serving on the first U.S. Governmental Task Force formed to get rid of the de jure dual-school system of the 11 states of the old Confederacy and the 6 border states that were slave states that had been persuaded by Abraham Lincoln to remain in The Union.

[The NC State Police made clear that they were NOT interested in saving my African-American partner and me – that they had been summoned by the proprietor of the Tastee Freez we had just exited who had feared his property would be ripped apart in the impending mayhem.]

And more times than you would care to remember that I was a co-founder in 1975 of the first homeless shelter in Fairfield County CT.

And more times than you would care to remember about being the volunteer national treasurer of The “I Have A Dream”© Foundation in the 1990’s that oversaw 178 programs in 51 American cities, each of which adopted a third-grade class of an inner-city school (or third-grade cohort of a public housing project) and provided each child with a tutor and mentor until high school graduation with a guarantee of college tuition.

And more times than you would care to remember about the 200 housing-project children who were served by my own IHAD-Stamford CT.

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Obviously the term “systematic racism” struck a personal nerve!!!

Which is why one of the first comments on the topic Wed evening was my calling (re-calling for those who are conscientious enough to read the materials on www.ReadingLiberally-SaltLake.org) your attention to Thurgood Marshall.

He had two children and sent both Thurgood Jr. and John W. Marshall to Exeter Academy rather than attend public high schools. And when asked why after having argued Brown v. Board before the Supreme Court as General Counsel of the NAACP, he would always say: “A parent does the best s/he can by her/his own children.”

Which, of course, is why America has segregated housing patterns.

Virtually all parents buy a home in the best neighborhood with the best school system that they can afford.

Which leaves behind in America’s ghettos what we have always called America’s Permanent 30% Under-CASTE.

About which, as reported in over a half-century of Jonathan Kozol’s books, the U.S. Government has constantly and consistently reported that 30% of the American population is illiterate as defined by the ability to read the warning label on a can of rat poison.

[For anyone who would like to peruse (or re-peruse) these materials re Thurgood Marshall, they are contained in Q&A-14 of the First Short Quiz for our 6/3/2020 meeting and the lengthy so-called “Reply” that appears immediately after the Quiz – at viewtopic.php?f=587&t=1909&p=2617&hilit ... 5b37#p2617.]

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Frankly, I was amazed that the only other attorney in our group Wed evening (George) branded these housing patterns resulting from the independent but identical decisions of millions of Thurgood Marshalls as “systematic.”

I argued this past Wed evening that the “systematic” racism in “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America” by Jonathan Kozol (which was the focus for our 6/3/2020 meeting) was the Supreme Court’s decision in Parents vs. Seattle School District No. 1 that voluntary bussing to overcome segregated housing patterns was unconstitutional.

For me, “systematic” means governmental institutions and the governmental officials who are responsible for governmental action.

So vis-à-vis America’s “Apartheid Schooling” (Jonathan Kozol’s term), the “systematic” racism is the Supreme Court’s decision!!!

Not the individual actions of the millions of Thurgood Marshalls.

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HOWEVER, even if you “buy” my distinction, there is still the issue of whether the millions of Thurgood Marshalls are racist even if their individual actions are not official governmental actions.

That was why, during our discussion Wed evening, I posed the example of what I do after midnight in Manhattan’s Theater District (after drinks with friends following a show) when I am walking alone to my car and see on the deserted street a group of young African-Americans coming toward me.

[Dennis immediately chimed in that he had often been in that type of situation.]

And I was honest enough to admit that if I spotted them from a far-enough distance to avoid being obvious, I would cross the street before continuing on. Perhaps even glancing once or twice into store windows as if that had been the reason why I crossed in case any of the young African-Americans had noticed my behavior.

[Dennis was honest enough to admit that he would have, and often had, done the same thing.]

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So why the loss of sleep for two nights???

Because I was (and still am) haunted by the question of whether such behavior is racist.

After all, the Obama Administration exerted great effort in trying to cleanse the nation’s police departments of the Giuliani/Bloomberg “stop and frisk” policy based on racial profiling.

And to use, instead, the long-standing Israeli policy of profiling “suspicious behavior” rather than “race.”

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Some of my thoughts (at least so far)???

Would I have crossed the street if the on-coming group had been older African-Americans???

No!!!

Would I have crossed the street if the on-coming group had been well dressed (coat and tie which until the last decade or so had been de rigueur for attending the theater)???

No!!!

Would I have crossed the street if the on-coming group had been poorly-dressed young African-American FEMALES???

No!!!

Would I have crossed the street if the on-coming group had been poorly-dressed young Caucasian males???

Absolutely!!!

Would I have crossed the street for the originally-posited group of young African-American males if I had been an armed police officer???

I don’t know. After all, there have been quite a few unprovoked attacks in NYC (“assassinations” if we are having an honest discussion) of police officers. [Where miscreants approach a police vehicle and, with no warning, spray the vehicle with bullets or where miscreants lure their police victims with a fake 9/11 call.]

So what do I do whenever I did not spot the originally-posited group of young African-American males far enough away (I said Wed evening I would NEVER cross the street unless I had spotted them at least a block away) in order to hope my action was not obvious???

And this has often happened to me!!! Probably more than 10 times/year!!!

I do my best to walk along naturally and to show no fear.

And instead of looking away as we pass each other, I always make a point of looking around nonchalantly beginning from a distance of 20-30 feet AND MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH AT LEAST ONE MEMBER OF THE GROUP WITHOUT ANY PARTICULAR REACTION AS IF I WERE LOOKING NATURALLY AT ANYTHING ELSE ON THE SCENE – IN ORDER TO MAKE CLEAR TO THE GROUP THAT I THINK THEY BELONG!!!

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The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and MLK by Prof. Peniel Joseph (America’s guru on the Black Power Movement) --

I’m glad that Dennis, who was the first person Wed evening to vote for our Sep 9 focus book, voted for “Revolutionary Lives”!!!

Starting a unanimous landslide.

Because “Revolutionary Lives” will provide us with another opportunity to re-visit this issue much more thoroughly!!!

However, if anyone else would like to comment in the meantime, we have a First Amendment and I know none of you is shy!!!

Your friend,

John K.