No One Asked Me But… (July 14, 2021)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… Over the last few months the American people have been bombarded with the term “systemic racism.”

Racism is a term that I am familiar with; however, systemic was not in my usual vocabulary so I sought out a definition and here is what I found.

A systemic problem is a problem which is a consequence of issues inherent in the overall system, rather than due to a specific, individual, isolated factor. … Something that’s systemic affects all parts of a thing. If every dog at doggy daycare has fleas, it’s a systemic problem. …

Like most issues in America, a group will select a catchy phrase and ride it to the extreme.

Are there cases of racism in America? Definitely!

Is there rampant “systemic racism” in America? I would argue there is not.

Let’s look at the definition of systemic a little closer.

First off: A systemic problem is a problem which is a consequence of issues inherent in the overall system, rather than due to a specific, individual, isolated factor.

Is racism inherent in the overall system of America? Inherent literally refers to something that is “stuck in” to a thing so firmly that the two can’t be separated. If this is the case, there is little hope for those who are championing the cause of the elimination of racism in America. The apparent solution would be the destruction of America as we know it today and doing a complete make over.

I am not a denier of racism in America. As a historian by trade, I surely understand that racism has been a major factor in American history. There was a time when a large portion of the American population lived as slaves, and it is important that Americans are aware of that.

It is also true that while perpetual slavery affected Africans brought to America for their labor, there were also European slaves brought to America. Those slaves were called indentured servants. The major difference was that the indentured servants had a time limit set on how long they had to work as slaves.

By definition, if inherent systemic racism exists in America, slavery would still be practiced today. Inherent literally refers to something that is “stuck in” so firmly that they can’t be separated.

At the time of the writing of the Declaration of Independence, there were a little over two million people in the colonies. Over 600,000 were African transplants who were in perpetual slavery. Approximately one million were European indentured servants and the rest were European freeman.

There is no question that African slavery as an institution was allowed to exist for 20 years without interference from the federal government as a compromise to get the Constitution of the United States accepted. However, it was not systemic as many of the individual states moved to ban slavery. This ban was found in the northern industrial states that relied on the indentured servants and wage slaves supplied by the migration from various European nations.

Was there racism involved in the perpetuation of slavery? Yes! Was it systemic to all America? No! It obviously was not inherent in the overall system. It was due to specific, individual, isolated factors. Not every dog at doggy daycare had fleas, not every American championed slavery. Nor did every American institution protect slavery.

While racism exists in America today, it is not systemic. It is based in pockets of individual racists. America has been, and continues to be, an evolving nation. America of today is not the America of 1787 nor will it be the America of 2050. If racism were systemic to America, nation-wide slavery would still exist. The Supreme Courts acceptance of “Separate but Equal” would continue to be the accepted law of the land based on the Dredd Scott decision. However, it was over turned in Brown v. Board.

I find it interesting that the political party that now cries “systemic racism” is the very party that championed the racist causes in America prior to the 1960’s. For the most part, southern slaveholders were Democrats. Those who fought to protect slavery in the 1860’s were Democrats. The founder of the KKK was a Democrat, as were most of the original members. Those who openly segregated Americans of African descent were Democrats. Yes, I am aware of defacto-segregation outside the Democrat south.

Democrat governors stood in the doorway of schools to oppose federally-mandated integration. Sheriff Bull Connor, who turned dogs loose on the freedom marchers, was a Democrat. I wonder if these are historical facts that the liberal left want taught under the title of Critical Race Theory.

Yes, I am also aware that much of the civil rights movement and gains made for the American citizen of African descent was championed by Democrats after the 1960’s. I do, however, believe that some of the greatest racists of today are those championing the dumbing down of American education. They seem to believe that the very students they are hoping to help are incapable of reaching educational goals that have been set for all students. Therefore, those goals should be lowered or eliminated altogether.

Let me speak from experience of having taught students from various ethnic groups. I found all students were capable of learning that which was required. In my eighteen years in the classroom, I found that intelligence knows no race. Experience and background affects all students and it is the teacher’s job to use that experience and background to their advantage. That is what real teachers do.

If America is systemically racist, there would have been no Civil War to end slavery. There would have been no move to end segregation. If inherent systemic racism was the case, the very congressmen and -women of African descent accusing America of inherent systemic racism would not be in the office they now hold. Barrack Obama would never have been elected President of the United States for an inherent systemic racist system would never have allowed it to happen.

Therefore, I would contend that racism is not systemic to America. It is an individual evil that needs to be isolated if it cannot be completely destroyed.

Thought of the week… “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.