Racism - front and center

[merithyn]

I couldn't find a thread where this kind of thing belongs, but it's happening often enough now that I thought it should be contained in it's own place. Given that this is a world-wide issue that's becoming either more obvious due to video phones or more prevalent (or both), and I can't see this getting better anytime soon, a discussion on how to handle it seems appropriate.

How do we combat the overt and aggressive racism that is being seen more often? By this I'm asking, what policies or laws can be put in place that might be able to shift this? Is it really just as common as it's always been, but more obvious now with cellphones in everyone's pockets?

https://thehill.com/homenews/news/520958-michigan-man-charged-with-hate-crime-for-shattering-black-teens-jaw-with-a-bike

Federal prosecutors have charged a white Michigan man with a hate crime for allegedly breaking an African American teenager's jaw with a bike lock. 

Prosecutors charged Lee Mouat, 42, with breaking bones in teenager's face with the bike lock after engaging in a tense confrontation with him and his friends.

According to the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Mouat confronted the teen, referred to in the document as D.F., and his friends on June 6 at a state park in Monroe County, Michigan.

He repeatedly yelled racial slurs and said that African Americans had no right to use the public beach where the incident occurred.

"N------ don't belong on this beach," Mouat said, according to the complaint

The teen and his friends then began yelling back at Mouat, and they began arguing. Mouat then walked to his car to grab a chain bike lock, returned to the group, and allegedly struck D.F. in the jaw. Monroe County Sheriff's Office deputies arrived within several minutes of the alleged attack.

D.F. was taken to a local emergency room, and later to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was treated for a facial fracture, facial lacerations and the loss of several teeth.

Mouat was charged with "willfully causing bodily injury to an African American teenager because of the teenager's race." He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

The news comes after a woman in New York City was charged with a hate crime in September after being captured on video throwing a bottle and yelling a racial slur at a Black runner.

[crazy canuck]

I don't know the answer.  Here in Canada we have hate crimes where the penalty increases if the crown can prove racism (BB will correct me on the details) played a role in the offense.

But we still get people doing it.

As for whether it just as common as it used to be.  I don't think so.  At least not here.  Where I grew up it was very common to hear things like "Paki go home" being yelled at my Sikh friends.  You would never hear that now.

[Barrister]

I don't know the answer.  Here in Canada we have hate crimes where the penalty increases if the crown can prove racism (BB will correct me on the details) played a role in the offense.

But we still get people doing it.

As for whether it just as common as it used to be.  I don't think so.  At least not here.  Where I grew up it was very common to hear things like "Paki go home" being yelled at my Sikh friends.  You would never hear that now.

There are specific crimes about inciting hatred towards an identifiable group, but it's rarely prosecuted.  More common is that evidence a regular crime (like assault) was motivated by hatred can lead to an increased penalty.

The real problem is you can make laws and create social pressures that will discourage people from openly saying racist things.  But changing people's hearts is far harder.  I do think we're seeing the racism that has always existed, but thanks to Trump people feel like there's a bit more permission to openly express their racism.

[Oexmelin]

"Revealing" the racism that was "always there" is not a neutral act that suddenly lays bare what remained unseen. It actively fashions, and transforms racism. You can "reveal" racism to make it acceptable; and you can "reveal" racism to make it unacceptable. In both cases, you are not really revealing it. You are shaping it. You are drawing the contours of what ought to be. And while it may take time for people's minds to change, it also takes deliberate effort, not just waiting for it to happen magically.

[Josquius]

The real problem is you can make laws and create social pressures that will discourage people from openly saying racist things.  But changing people's hearts is far harder.  I do think we're seeing the racism that has always existed, but thanks to Trump people feel like there's a bit more permission to openly express their racism.

For sure. It often leads to a backlash too. Just look to the sheer hate against BLM.
In our polarised world anything that triggers teh libs is to be embraced as part of the package even if its not something you would have bothered with before.

[grumbler]

If one is only embracing racism to "trigger the libs," one is a racist in the complete absence of liberals.  Racism to troll someone is akin to assault to troll someone; a person cannot argue that they are not really violent, just violent "trying to trigger the libs."

The way you change racist thinking is the same way you change any moral reasoning:  by presenting (even in a hypothetical) a situation in which the person's existing moral reasoning does not resolve the dilemma.  If a person's moral reasoning fails them, they will come up with a more advanced system of moral reasoning that resolves the dilemma.  In the case of racism, this may take several rounds, as it does for developmental moral reasoning.  A good education will help develop all kinds of moral reasoning; that's one of the principal benefits of education.

[viper37]

How do we combat the overt and aggressive racism that is being seen more often? By this I'm asking, what policies or laws can be put in place that might be able to shift this?

When you find out, please tell me.

Policies and laws are one thing.  Enforcing them is another.  I'd start by enforcing existing laws and policies before enacting new measures.  I'd make sure there are no ghettos in cities, i.e., neighbourhoods that are overwhelmingly one ethnicity, but I guess that'll be hard to do.  Migrants are always willing to adapt to their new country, but at the same time, they'll miss some of their traditions: specialized grocery stores, specialized restaurants, religious temples/churches, etc and that'll be hard to satisfy their needs for this if they're spread all over the country.

As for Blacks, well, I don't really know.  The issues in the US aren't exactly new and they're extremely hard to change.  There's racism on both sides, that's a given.  They distrust the police with reason, and that ends up reinforcing stereotypes about them by their police.  Zoning laws are a mess and most White folks, even progressive ones, don't want to see poor Blacks as their neighbours because it will hurt the market value of their house.  And they don't want Black kids in their children's schools but it will hurt their chances to accede to one of the best colleges later on.  Reworking all that will take time, and it will take will, and that will is nearly nonexistent in so far as I can observe.

Hispanics, well, there's the issue of illegal immigration.  Can't do much about it, I mean, you have an entire border with a poorer country who itself has a border with poorer countries.  People are bound to end up in the US.  Maybe try and fix that immigration system so more would be regularized, have an opportunity to apply for citizenship the way it should be done, while taking into account they are often refugees victims of unscrupulous people.

First Nations.  Sit with them.  Ask them.  Negotiate retrocession of territories, compensations for military conquests, broken treaties, acknowledge massacres, teach it in high school.  You can't give them back all of the territory, but they could have more autonomy over a larger territory in some places.

Is it really just as common as it's always been, but more obvious now with cellphones in everyone's pockets?

It is less common than it has always been, but with cellphones, internet, social medias, it gets amplified, and gullible people will believe everything that fits their prejudices: they're the hard working ones, everyone else is leeching of the system.

I've seen it about immigrants (false numbers about supposed benefits, can be easily verified that it's false in under 1 minute, but people are lazy), Muslims (story about how a mayor stood up to their request of having Halal food in a school - and even when it's not possible because a mayor has no authority over schools here- people still share it endlessly), blue collar workers (the men in pants built this country, the men in suits are destroying it), and probably many others I've missed.

Think about it: 100 years ago, public lynching were the norm in some part of your country.  Can't honestly say it's worst.  But it's more subtle.  Lots of otherwise decent people are bloody racists.  Which makes it that harder to fight.

It's like smokers.  There are less of them, but those left are compensating for the others.