Under the Same Sun

by kasey henricks

“Unless one believes in the inherent inferiority of blacks, one would have to assume that in the absence of institutional racism and white privilege, historically speaking, blacks would be roughly equally distributed throughout the economy and educational institutions, relative to their share of the population.” – Ronald J. Fiscus

Some would argue that programs attempting to institute equality, such as affirmative action, establish the same type of discrimination that it is intended to protect against. Critics argue that such programs do not reward those with more qualifications, more merit and over-all more talents that would be best suited for an education, job or housing opportunity. But, the counter-argument attempting to construct the existence of “reverse racism” would rather ignore and dismiss the countless data, statistics, and studies performed. Instead of recognizing the ongoing disparities, critics rather lay their focus on how they assumedly have been violated. “Reverse racism” proponents often complain that programs attempting to eliminate discrimination create bias and therefore deprive deserving people of things to which they are entitled. But those who support this logic fail to begin with an obvious question their criticism poses.

Say there is no such thing as an unearned privilege and that “reverse racism” does in fact exist, how would someone explain all of the racial disparities that go on in our country today?

Critics clearly aren’t seeing that the numbers don’t match up to their cause. Before approaching what some might think is a form of “reverse racism,” attention must be addressed to the underlying and sobering facts that constitute whom is really being discriminated against. Then, and only then, will light be drawn upon the injustices that need to be addressed.

Let’s begin where so many self-proclaimed victims of “reverse racism” formulated the idea that they where discriminated against, i.e. education. White students are prone to jump to conclusions when such things like college acceptance and financial assistance don’t work out in their favor; many believe their rejection is due to a racial preference system. It is true systematic racism does play a key role in most every opportunity in America, but it’s key to ask who is benefiting from this operational discrimination. In the realm of education, it would be hard to believe that blacks are beneficiaries when it comes to college admittance. Programs that are supposed to be insuring equality are incompetent. Affirmative action in the world of academia is dead; “diversity” is the new buzzword around universities, but as you will see from statistics, it too has yet to bridge the disparities. Since the 1970s, black acceptance and enrollment in colleges and universities have actually fallen, according to a study performed by scholar Stephanie Goodwin. As for the conditions of financial assistance, many “reverse racism” victims claim they have been deprived of assistance. This claim would be a hard one to prove considering that only 0.0025 percent of all undergraduate financial assistance is reserved exclusively to people who are nonwhite, as determined by the U.S. General Accounting Office. Furthermore, it is hard to believe that whites are victims of biased financial assistance when only 3.5 percent of nonwhite students obtain assistance determined by race, as reported by scholar Stephan Carter. Another troubling disparity that births problems to the “reverse racism” accusation is the ongoing gap of college attendance with respect to each race’s population. In a recent study performed by the U.S. Department of Education, blacks have an attendance rate 10 percentage points lower than their white counterparts. If “reverse racism” was, indeed, a reality, how would the underrepresentation of black, not white, students be explained? Racism is going on in the world of education; the victims are not the majority, but the minority. Critics are quick to dismiss that they benefit from a larger form of systemic racism that places them in a superior position in terms of opportunity.

Earnings gaps are persistent across the board when it comes to all types of professions. According to a recent national Census Bureau study, “whites with high school diplomas, college degrees, or master’s degrees all earn approximately twenty percent more than their black counterparts.” In Tennessee, blacks only “have an income level that is … 71 percent of the income of whites” according to more Census Bureau statistics. Black Tennesseeans 25 or older holding a professional degree earn a median income of $60,000 compared to their white counterparts who earn an estimated median income of $92,000. Black males holding a master’s degree earned a median income of an approximated $49,000 compared to a median income of $62,000 for white males. For blacks holding a bachelor’s degree the number is $41,500 compared to $52,000 for white counterparts. Bottom line: census reports confirm that whites are unfairly and disproportionately rewarded.

Another disturbing gap lies in the imbalance of accumulated wealth. A major contributing factor to this imbalance is longstanding discrimination that forms barriers for nonwhite capital growth. A large portion of what makes up a household’s wealth lies in homeownership. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 guaranteed the halt of discrimination and ensured freedom to anyone nonwhite that they would be protected to live where they choose. This act sounds like promising protection, but it’s too bad that it is loosely enforced. Federal estimates state, “as many as two million cases of housing discrimination take place every year against people of color.” The head start in accumulated wealth can be traced as far back as the “Invasion of Columbus,” but more recent growth can be discovered through the government-guaranteed subsidized racially preferred loans offered through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan program in the 1930s. Based on the vision of Franklin D. Roosevelt to build a strong middle class which is vital for an effective democracy, the FHA poured in $100 billion dollars in loans to build home equity in a thirty year span from 1930 to 1960. But troublesome criteria were established in who could receive these subsidized loans. Tim Wise points this out in his book “Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White.” It reads, “FHA lending guidelines … made it very clear that these preferential loans were off-limits to persons who lived in ‘declining’ neighborhoods (and every black neighborhood was rated as declining), and that loans were also to be denied to anyone whose receipt of the loans would result in a reduction in a neighborhood’s racial homogeneity.” This is segregation that perpetuates the cycle of poverty and inability to amass wealth for nonwhites that is still prevailing. In Tennessee, 77 percent of whites own their homes compared to only 54 percent of blacks, reported by census data. This is largely because a large portion of wealth is gained through inheritance. Intergenerational wealth births the product of a cumulated effect that just perpetuates the disparities among racial groups. In a study performed by sociologists Robert Avery and Michael Rendall, it was concluded that whites are 2.2 to 3 times more likely to benefit from receiving family wealth compared to blacks. The average wealth transferred was estimated at 360 percent more than what was received by black counterparts. This disturbing data gives birth to quite the argument for instituting some form of redistribution (reparations anyone?). Also, it is important to note that a much larger portion of blacks are forced into a position where they must rent. Guess who they’re renting from? The cycle of poverty continues to broaden as the “rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”

Racial privilege, not “reverse racism” is very much a real problem. Historical and existing studies do prove that discrimination is a prevailing problem in need of being addressed. The same problems will always persist as long as narrow-minded and self-proclaimed righteous bigots, culturally insensitive racists, and rape-a-culture just so I can still claim my southern heritage by flying “the Confederate flag,” mentality-having people fail to address the products and byproducts that come from living in a society based on exploitation.

The real victims are not the ones who gain unearned privilege afforded only at the cost of disadvantaging others. The real victims are the ones who get pissed on. So the next time someone declares themselves a victim of “reverse racism,” ask them to look at the objective facts and reject the myths that so many want to believe.

“Less pride and more humility would be a good thing.” - Robert Jensen