re: In all seriousness, what is "systematic oppression of black people " ?

quote:

---

If it systematic, then it should be very easy to identify, right?

I am asking why it's hard to see...

---

I think it's easy to see, but hard to identify all aspects of it.

Systemic is not the same as systematic. Systematic would be if there were plans and controls in place to ensure a particular outcome. Systemic means that it is ingrained in the system. This makes it hard to identify any real problems, as the problem is pervasive throughout.

It crops up in many parts of life, and no one even has to have racist intent. Many of us have inherent and oftentimes unconscious biases and prejudices that influence our decisions.

Take any of the numerous "whitewashed" resume studies, for example. Identical resumes generate around twice as many callbacks just by changing a black-sounding name to a white-sounding one. It might not sound like a huge problem because quality resumes do indeed get responses regardless of "whitewashing", but twice as many opportunities can make a big difference in unemployment rates and wages. Obviously not insurmountable, and maybe not dictionary "oppression", but that's just one aspect of life.

Where else might we expect this disparity to occur? Interest rates? Pricing for custom work? Probably any time humans are responsible for making decisions, there is a similar difference as the resume studies. Surely the opposite occurs where races are reversed, but all in all, majority rules here.



And I think most here would agree that our system of government welfare programs is fricked up and incentivizes remaining poor, which disproportionately affects minorities. People are paid to have more children, which obviously makes it much harder to work out of poverty. There are numerous income cliffs where earning an extra dollar from work results in a net loss of income due to no longer qualifying for a certain program. This welfare system is so clearly broken and easily fixable that it simply has to be intentional.