OPINION: Systemic racism — demonizing an inconvenient truth

Systemic racism is not rocket science. It’s simply the cumulative efforts to keep a minority at a perpetual disadvantage. While demonizing racism is not new, it is being grossly abused in our upcoming elections. Unscrupulous politicians are using it to deepen middle-class grievances — a pre-existing alienation from being economically marginalized for over three decades. Rather than an honest look at cumulative effects of racism and socio-economic solutions for all, it is easier to stoke the fears, frustrations and anger of those disenfranchised by racial scapegoating. One objective is to belittle systematic racism as nothing more than a hidden agenda to shame white children or for minorities to extort reparations. How easy it is to circle the wagons around the children or to incite those who have been on the long, slippery slope for years.

My Irish-German family’s history is a real-life example of systematic racism and makes it easier for me to understand. My father’s father died just months before my father was born. His single mother raised five children through the Great Depression into adulthood. They survived because of family, friends, church and welfare, but faced few chances for upward mobility. Then came World War II. All four of Grandma Rose‘s boys were drafted. My father was unfortunately shot down over Germany and became a wounded prisoner of war. He suffered lifelong injuries but benefited from the Veterans Administration medical care. But more importantly, he earned a business degree under the GI Bill and qualified for a VA home loan. This gateway allowed him to get his first middle-class job at a decent wage, start a new business, buy a better home and send four kids to college. His kids were given more than a fighting chance to gain a better standard of living — and even enjoy a small inheritance. So, what is the point? It is the contrast of opportunities versus pathways that are systematically denied.

Black and Native veterans from World War II who fought alongside my father were denied the same VA benefits by policy makers. Minorities often took lower-paying jobs and found it more difficult to qualify for loans. Their affordable housing was in lower-income — redlined — neighborhoods. They were often renters long before they could afford to buy. When they did buy, the loan terms were less favorable and the surrounding neighborhood was usually poorly maintained. This meant adjacent properties eroded home values rather than allowing them to appreciate. Accumulating wealth through home ownership was close to nonexistent. Moreover, these disadvantages were sadly dwarfed by the overwhelming killer of upward mobility — inferior public schools. The root cause of lower lifetime earnings is clearly correlated with poor education.

So, what is the point? Denying upward mobility becomes cumulative, self-perpetuating and systematic. Had my father’s innate skills been subject to the same barriers — racism — my trajectory would have been clearly different.

I may never see systemic racism solved, but a start would be to study our unvarnished history. And, more importantly, to understand the unsavory parts are not my fault — the inequities of the system do not mean I am a bad person by default. Those misperceptions are the perverted seeds of racists and authoritarians. I also understand it is not a zero-sum-game — that is, if I win, you must lose. Zero-sum thinkers shortchange the opportunities to grow the pie bigger — to lift more boats. If more minority veterans of WWII had benefited from the same VA opportunities as my father, we would have increased the demand for goods and services across the board and increased the spending power across generations. That’s called economic growth and prosperity — not the pessimistic zero-sum fate that serves the bad intentions of false prophets.

Joe Mehrkens is a retired forest economist from Juneau and Petersburg.

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