[Roberton3]

[quote author=martyup link=topic=13558.msg140545#msg140545 date=1447084303]
That's a nice catchy phrase, but what system are they protesting.  What laws?  What regulations?  What policy of enforcement?  Where is the system?  Yes, there are still racists in America.  But, I think we have done a pretty thorough job of weeding out racist systems. 

Well, I mean, just a random example out of nowhere: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/mar...lacks.html

Or, weirdly, another one:

Despite the recent and large declines in blood-lead levels, young children of urban minority families are found to be at the greatest risk of lead poisoning. According to the most recent NHANES III-Phase 2 report, 8 percent of impoverished children are lead poisoned, compared to 1 percent of children from high-income families...Among all children, 11.2 percent of African-American children are poisoned compared with 2.3 percent of white children.

http://www.nrdc.org/health/kids/ocar/chap3.asp
[/quote]

Unequal outcomes don't necessarily indicate racism.  It's easy to come up with alternative hypotheses that don't involve racism.  For example, my experience in DC (before the recent legalization) suggests that while overall marijuana use rates are similar, black people are vastly more likely than white people to smoke marijuana in public, and I'm sure you're more likely to get arrested for drug use in public than in private.  And for blood lead levels, the main thing that matters is living in badly maintained old housing -- which basically means being poor in an older urban area, and that's strongly correlated with being a minority (and that might be because of current racism, or because of past racism, or for any number of other reasons).  So none of these examples are proof (or even solid evidence) of racism, either institutional or by individuals.

Of course, that doesn't prove there isn't racism, either.  Getting solid evidence one way or the other is really hard.  But claiming that unequal outcomes prove the existence of racism is not helpful.

[Roberton3]

[quote author=martyup link=topic=13558.msg140545#msg140545 date=1447084303]
That's a nice catchy phrase, but what system are they protesting.  What laws?  What regulations?  What policy of enforcement?  Where is the system?  Yes, there are still racists in America.  But, I think we have done a pretty thorough job of weeding out racist systems. 

Well, I mean, just a random example out of nowhere: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/04/us/mar...lacks.html

Or, weirdly, another one:

Despite the recent and large declines in blood-lead levels, young children of urban minority families are found to be at the greatest risk of lead poisoning. According to the most recent NHANES III-Phase 2 report, 8 percent of impoverished children are lead poisoned, compared to 1 percent of children from high-income families...Among all children, 11.2 percent of African-American children are poisoned compared with 2.3 percent of white children.

http://www.nrdc.org/health/kids/ocar/chap3.asp
[/quote]

Unequal outcomes don't necessarily indicate racism.  It's easy to come up with alternative hypotheses that don't involve racism.  For example, my experience in DC (before the recent legalization) suggests that while overall marijuana use rates are similar, black people are vastly more likely than white people to smoke marijuana in public, and I'm sure you're more likely to get arrested for drug use in public than in private.  And for blood lead levels, the main thing that matters is living in badly maintained old housing -- which basically means being poor in an older urban area, and that's strongly correlated with being a minority (and that might be because of current racism, or because of past racism, or for any number of other reasons).  So none of these examples are proof (or even solid evidence) of racism, either institutional or by individuals.

Of course, that doesn't prove there isn't racism, either.  Getting solid evidence one way or the other is really hard.  But claiming that unequal outcomes prove the existence of racism is not helpful.