Racism exists outside of ‘systemic’ label

These days, the conversation is all about systemic racism. I would like to put in a word about just plain racism.

To my way of thinking, slavery was systemic racism. Jim Crow was systemic racism. These days, there are no racial laws in place that a person must follow willy-nilly. Instead, there are racists.

The real estate agent who steers clients of color to neighborhoods of color and white clients to neighborhoods of whiteness is not following any formal rules. In fact, she is breaking them. She is a free individual, making a living and doing racism.

The mid-level executive who always finds a reason not to promote the employee of color is free to do otherwise. He just doesn’t. If the idea of “systemic racism” is that these decisions are somehow foreordained, I’m not buying it.

The parent who disapproves of his or her son’s or daughter’s relationship, business partnership, or even just plain friendship with someone of another race, because of their race, is a free citizen raising a family and doing racism.

Are police recruits taught at the academy to shoot first and ask questions later when dealing with black people? Call me naive, but I doubt it. Clearly there are officers who proceed that way, but what does it mean to call that “systemic”?

In this day and age, well past slavery and Jim Crow, racism lives and works in the minds of individual Americans. Plainly enough, it flourishes there. I guess it’s embarrassing to admit that the problem consists of the actions and attitudes of white people today.

Tough! Do we take responsibility or don’t we? There is no system requiring that white voters elect white racists to be county sheriff, state senator or president. They just do.

Eric Kuhn, Middletown