The Real Systemic Problem

Systemic racism is the often cited term for understanding the anger, rage, destruction of property, and all that falls under the umbrella of the recent protests.  I have written a number of times about my concerns and issues with the term and its deliberate broadness to cover just about anything one wants it to cover.  Systemic racism identifies disparity of outcomes in term of race and links them to institutions and processes.  While these disparities are factual, the conclusion that disparity equates to racism might not be truthful.  At least, it may not paint the whole truth in its entirety.  To me, what gets lost in this approach is the identification of individual instances of racism by specific individuals.  Instead, you condemn an entire system, an institution, implicit bias, or the culture at large.  To which, these institutions try to reform themselves by engaging in a host of ill conceived methods to address an abstract problem.  Anyone who has sat through sensitivity trainings and the like, know that those have very little utility besides providing a source of income for Oppression Inc.  

The assumption that if disparities must be a result of a nefarious racist or misogynist system is quite the intellectual leap.  Often, there are many other variables and contexts to understand before we can claim that a system is, in fact, racist.  I am not saying that systemic racism does not exist, or that certain institutions have cultivated a culture that does, indeed, discriminate based on race.  What I am saying is, that we should only use the term when all of the facts equate to that truth and not merely use a set of facts or anecdotal evidence to create a narrative.  The problem is that the media and our educational system have promoted this concept in such a manner that any disparity between races or any negative interaction between races will be interpreted as an example of America's systemic racist problem.  This is one of the real systemic problems in America, the perspective that race is the key factor in understanding any issue in America.  This is also known as critical race theory.  The media, for many reasons that I won't go into now, selectively chooses headlines that purport to show how incessant and rampant racism is, and repeats the narrative over and over, until people assume that it is the truth.  The only stories regarding cops and black Americans seem to be when the cops appear to have acted in excess of force.  I wonder how many times cops have acted in ways that have saved the lives of black Americans that never get mentioned.  There in lies the problem- the data, when examined and analyzed completely,will tell a different story.  However,  If you attempt to criticize that point of view you are labeled a racist and a cog in problem of systemic racism.

My assertions that systemic racism fails to meet the necessary standard of critical analysis also comes from my experience in public education.  As a school administrator, we often tasked with looking at data disparities, especially in terms of race and socioeconomic status.  It is often referred to as the achievement gap or discipline gap.  This is a good practice and helps us identify areas to which we can improve, need to address, or have a better understanding of the relationships that exist between variables.  However, I have sat in enough conferences and meetings regarding the achievement gap or discipline gap to know that these discussions often lack contributing factors.  In almost every instance, the knee-jerk reaction is that there is an obvious problem with racism.  Of course, systemic racism and implicit bias become the narrative when explaining the outcomes.  I would sit and listen, look at our data, not just school wide, but granular,  You know what happens when you look at each student individually, and each instance individually?  You see that many times, these disparities are a result of more complex variables and relationships to other variables we don't want to really talk about, like parental and family dynamics.

Poverty, crime, poor education, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and lack of health care are a part of the vicious cycle of many in America's underclass.  They also present the "chicken and the egg" dilemma because they all cause or contribute to the other.  America, both at the federal and state level, has attempted to address these issues with alarming failure and, in some instances, exacerbated the problem.  This high lights another systemic problem: throwing money at issues and creating programs that don't work.  Too often when the government tries to fix these problems, the solution is too bureaucratic as agencies become bloated with administrators and public employee unions who worry more about their self preservation than the people they were intended to help.  When government money is offered to private agencies to address these problems, inevitably opportunists and swindlers get involved.  In reality, after the press conferences, the ribbon cuttings, the champagne ceremonies, these policies rarely translate into intended outcomes.  We have been fighting the war on poverty for nearly sixty years, and not much has changed. The war on drugs was equally bad.  Despite what you hear from teacher unions, we have been throwing money at education with little success.   I do think, however, there are reforms that could address some of these issues, especially in health care and crime.  I am all for figuring out new ways to decriminalize many people.  I am disgusted by Prison Inc. as much as I am by Oppression Inc.  Maybe, these issues are not of the kind governments can easily solve and require a different approach. 

Black Americans suffer the most in all of the above categories.  They suffer disproportionately from poverty, lack of access to quality education, access to health care, and incarceration rates.  There is little doubt that these statistics are reflective of the history of racism as witnessed through slavery, state sanctioned segregation, and discrimination.  The question  remains of what can be done to alleviate these burdens many black Americans face.  None of the current ideas touted by BLM and others really will solve much besides provide a momentary emotional feeling of retribution.  I can certainly say that alleged systemic racism will not be solved by "defunding police" or the razing of statues.  Maybe, we should begin looking at other solutions.

I know what I am about to say may anger many and accusations of racist will be used to discredit me.  But the most systemic problem facing the black community is not racism or police brutality, but rather the lack of family structure that every data set has overwhelmingly shown to be one of the most important factors in determining a persons income, education level, involvement in drugs and alcohol, and criminal involvement.  According to data from Pew Research, 51% of black children are raised in single-parent homes, most of which are single mothers.  Single mothers also have much higher poverty rates than married mothers forcing them to live in areas with poor performing schools.  I am a principal at a continuation high school, where students who fail in traditional high schools, either academically or behaviorally, end up.  Nearly every student comes from a single-parent home, has a parent incarcerated, or has parents with substantial drug and alcohol issues. Moreover, in my entire experience in education, it was abundantly clear that students from broken families faced much more adversity than those from married parents.  I say all this to make the point that the real way to fight many of the ills that plague many black Americans would be to promote married families or at the very least the appropriate support from both biological parents.  More importantly, this does not require the involvement of white America or political parties.  

Don't misunderstand me, although I know some will, I am not trying to say the recent events are a result of the family structure in the black community.  It is not. Nor am I saying that other reforms shouldn't be pursued.  They should.  But of all the reforms mentioned and discussed, I fail to see their efficacy.  These are the same tired calls for the same tired methods, by the same tired political party.  Eventually, you would think people would say, "We keep trying the same thing, and expecting different results.  Sounds crazy!"  If the black community wants to make huge strides, the clarion call to be involved, supportive parents is the place to start.  Too many young black children grow up without a parental team that each child needs to be emotionally, physically, and intellectually healthy.  The data does not lie and I know it doesn't tell the whole story, but it sees like the best place to start.  However, this approach does not help elect democrats, enrich the race hustlers, or create discord.  All of which are central to many involved in Oppression Inc.  

The systemic problems are many.  I am just not so sure systemic racism is one of them.