Racism isn’t built into the system; it’s built into many hearts, minds

I am suspicious about the term “systemic racism” because its premise is that racism is so pervasively embedded in all levels of our society it’s bound to affect almost every Black or otherwise marginalized person in America.

My suspicion arises because it has never affected me. Sure, I’ve had a few brushes with racist insults, but they have been minor and inconsequential events that never deprived me of anything. I have spent my life solidly in the middle class, living in nice homes in leafy suburbs. I have always had access to excellent health care, and I’ve never encountered any irregular barriers while voting.

During my 40 years in the working world, I never felt discriminated against because of my race. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. I can’t prove this, but I’m willing to bet I’ve had better job opportunities than many, if not most, white Americans.

And, perhaps most notable of all, in 52 years I have never felt threatened by police officers and have never feared for my life at their hands. Not once. Frankly, my interactions with the police (mostly traffic stops), have been as polite as tea parties and sometimes just as friendly. The police have also been of great help to me the few times I’ve needed it.

In the midst of swirling reports about Black Americans being disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, I spent the entire time in the eye of the storm, completely unruffled. I was one of the fortunate few who was able to work from home and never missed a paycheck. And, contrary to the horror stories I kept hearing on the news, I had no problem getting tested or vaccinated. And, thankfully, I never contracted the virus.

Either I’m the luckiest Black man in America, or I’m not alone, and I sincerely hope it’s the latter. I would love to find more living proof that the United States is not the systemically racist wasteland it’s often portrayed to be.

But my blessed experience has not lulled me into the delusion that there is no anti-Black racism. Far from it. Although there have been dramatic improvements over the last 50 years, it’s still out there. And it can still be deadly.

Like it was for Ahmaud Arbery, the young, Black Georgian who was gunned down while jogging through a white neighborhood in 2020.

His murder is one of the most blatant acts of racist hate I have ever seen. The three white men involved had assumed the role of a latter-day slave patrol intent on corralling a wayward runaway. Their actions speak for themselves, but there was added confirmation of their racist motivation when the social media communications of Travis McMichael, the shooter in the incident, revealed a slew of bigoted diatribes, including one where he praised his workplace because there was “Not a n——r in sight.”

I don’t believe the system is racist, but I do believe there are individual racists who are corrupting the system. McMichael proved himself to be an explicit racist, but there are also those whose actions and decisions are affected by an implicit racial bias that occurs automatically and unintentionally without them even being aware of it.

It is that kind of bias that partially accounts for inequalities like the disproportionate incarceration of Blacks as well as the fact that Blacks receive longer sentences than whites who have committed similar offenses.

There are other factors that come into play in these and other racial inequalities, but that will have to wait for another discussion. However, I maintain that the system itself is not inherently or intentionally racist.

In the Arbery case, aside from McMichael and his cohorts, there were also the police officers on the scene and the two prosecutors who all knew the circumstances surrounding Arbery’s death but were so blinded by their personal biases that they failed to see that his death had been a crime.

Once the system was reset by the jolt of that heartbreaking video of the shooting, the killers were arrested, tried and convicted of murder. In other words, after implicit bias was excised, the system worked.

And we should take hope in that. I know hope is a fickle mistress but, in the end, I think it’s all we have. I understand the impulse in trying to pass “antiracist” laws, but I’m skeptical of their efficacy. As long as there are those, like McMichael, who rejoice when there is “not a n——r in sight” all the laws in the world won’t help us.

The law can regulate people’s behavior, but it can’t redeem their hearts and minds. That will only occur one person at a time.

By Arthur Harley