# We need to call out inherent racism in explicit terms **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 13, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083 "2014-12-13T01:40:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083/261 "2014-12-19T16:45:42Z")
[This article](http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/23/peter_pan_played_by_a_woman_why_a_history_of_casting_the_j_m_barrie_character.html)sheds some light on the history of the role. (Spoiler alert: It has nothing to do with the score.) ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083/262 "2014-12-19T17:30:53Z")
Bale and Edgerton aren’t black enough, first world problems. Petition a black and/ or sympathetic producer to make his vision of the same story using a cast that better reflects the regions demographic. See how the movies compare. Stop talking about obligations, especially other peoples. Nobody is gonna sympathize with that. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083/263 "2014-12-19T17:37:24Z")
> [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > Bale and Edgerton aren’t black enough, first world problems. 260 posts, and _that_’s what you think the concerns are? Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![demarke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@demarke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/demarke)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083/264 "2016-10-08T08:16:31Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > This is actually not a Pitting of another poster, nor is it a rant. It’s actually a Debate or an IMHO, but I have been [instructed](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=17972908&postcount=648) to bring it here because of my use of terminology. > > This is the exchange: > > No, I’m sorry. It’s completely fair. This is exactly why we’ve reached a plateau in fighting institutional racism. In the 1960s, we started to make official racism illegal, but the progress that was made has slowed because of the inherent racism-in-all-but-name that continues to exist in our society and in our institutions. > > Now that official racism is illegal, people get to claim that racism no longer exists, so black people have no one to blame but themselves for anything unfortunate that happens to them. > > Really, what has happened is the inherent racism and white supremacy embedded in our society and our institutions have simply been stripped of explicit racist terms. > > Now, only a fringe hate group will openly use bigoted terms, but everyone else will swear up and down “I don’t discriminate on the basis of skin color” and they get to comfort themselves with that thought—“I’m not racist because I don’t say that black people are inferior.” But they continue to act that way, even if they don’t admit it. > > Meanwhile, study after study shows that black people are routinely discriminated against in hiring, in housing, and even in schools. Black people are punished more harshly for the same transgressions as white people from the time that they are little children in school. > > Police deal more harshly with black people are are more quick to use force, because they are scared of black people simply because they are black. That’s racism. > > Health care workers give black people—even children—lower doses of painkillers because they unconsciously believe that black people don’t feel as much pain as non-black people. > > When we see inherent racism, we need to call it out. We need to disturb the self-comforting that people have given themselves that they’re not racist because they don’t think or speak in explicit racist terms. The issue here is that the society, our institutions, and are system, are racist, even though no one thinks of themselves as racist. Racism still exists, although with fewer extremists. This is a factor that needs to be recognized, acknowledged, and addressed, but too often it is the only part of the debate while ignoring other factors that are just as important (or even more so). It’s easy to look at recent news and aggregate black people shot by officers of the law. The most egregious (Tulsa and North Charleston) actually have the white female and male officers facing (in my opinion) justifiable murder charges. Then you get to the last few (Charlotte most recent) that actually caused riots and they were shootings by a black officer (with black mayor in Charlotte) and prior to that an Asian officer, but riots ensued because of “white racism.” That’s the problem, the flag bearers of this movement are choosing the worst possible people that are often holding weapons, acting violently, or otherwise disobeying officer commands during a tense standoff. During all this we also have people that were unarmed and shot by officers despite posing no threat that were let completely off (the white kid suspected for misdemeanor pot in upstate SC last year). There is no doubt that black people get pulled and addressed per capita more frequently, but corrected for economic status, the difference is slight at best or even more white people being shot. Do we need to train officers to deal with minorities better? Yes. Do we need to stop there? No. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2016, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083/265 "2016-10-08T15:05:46Z")
> [@demarke](#): > > Racism still exists, although with fewer extremists. This is a factor that needs to be recognized, acknowledged, and addressed, but too often it is the only part of the debate while ignoring other factors that are just as important (or even more so). I have no idea what you’re trying to say here and what its import is. > [@](#): > > It’s easy to look at recent news and aggregate black people shot by officers of the law. The most egregious (Tulsa and North Charleston) actually have the white female and male officers facing (in my opinion) justifiable murder charges. Then you get to the last few (Charlotte most recent) that actually caused riots and they were shootings by a black officer (with black mayor in Charlotte) and prior to that an Asian officer, but riots ensued because of “white racism.” The fact that some of the officers in this case might be women or black or Asian doesn’t refute anything. You don’t have to be white to be affected by a society steeped in white supremacism. Indeed, I have read articles that show that black police officers have inherent biases against black citizens similar to white officers. That doesn’t change the equation. > [@](#): > > That’s the problem, the flag bearers of this movement are choosing the worst possible people that are often holding weapons, acting violently, or otherwise disobeying officer commands during a tense standoff. During all this we also have people that were unarmed and shot by officers despite posing no threat that were let completely off (the white kid suspected for misdemeanor pot in upstate SC last year). You don’t always get to pick and choose the people you have to defend. This is a fallacy that must be rejected—that only squeaky clean people are deserving of full human rights. Even vile scumbags have rights. And just because you might resist arrest or argue with a cop or fail to respond immediately to commands doesn’t even make you a vile scumbag. And none of this is deserving of summary execution. The cops are out of control, and it ultimately doesn’t matter whether every single victim of their abuse is a perfect citizen. > [@](#): > > There is no doubt that black people get pulled and addressed per capita more frequently, but corrected for economic status, the difference is slight at best or even more white people being shot. What do you mean “corrected” for economic status? Even if you could find a correlation with economic status, that doesn’t mean it is a relevant metric. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/we-need-to-call-out-inherent-racism-in-explicit-terms/707083.md?page=13)