Institutional Racism

Sgt Major John Rawlins: I ain't sure I'm wantin' this, Colonel.
Col Robert Gould Shaw: I know exactly how you feel.
--Glory

As he has done times before (e.g., here, here), Prof Williams criticizes popular claims that poor socioeconomic conditions among many blacks are primarily caused by racism lingering from times past. This does not make sense, he observes, because the pathologies evident in black neighborhoods are relatively recent phenomena.

Parents. 1880s three quarters of black families two parent. 1925 NYC 85% of black families two parent. Today overwhelming majority of black families are single parent.

Illegitimate child birth. 1940 illegitimate birth rate among blacks 14%. 1965 25%. 1980 56%. Today nearly 75%.

Poverty rate among black married couples since 1994 has remained in single digits.

Black youth unemployment. 1948 9.4% vs 10.2% for white teens. Today black teen unemployment exceeds 50% in some cities. Since the 1960s both employment and labor force participation rates among black youths have been falling to where they are today.

Associating these data with institutional racism is a tall order. For starters, one would have to argue persuasively that racism has been increasing over the past few decades in order to fit black socioeconomic trends. While racism certainly hasn't been (and never will be) completely eliminated, claims that racial discrimination has been on the rise over the past half century should strike most as ludicrous. Moreover, locating compelling data to support such claims would be challenging. Explaining socioeconomic inconsistencies between single parent and married black households using a racial discrimination overlay will prove difficult.

As Prof Williams demonstrates, straightforward explanations of socioeconomic trends among blacks can be developed by examining various interventions concocted by the welfare state and constructing economically grounded propositions about the effects of those interventions. For instance, having children outside of wedlock is less burdensome when housing subsidies, welfare payments, and food stamps reduce the cost of unproductive behavior. Minimum wage laws and other labor regulations force black teens and other low skilled blacks out of the labor market. Such compulsory unemployment effectively cuts off the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, disabling the poverty stricken from climbing toward higher standard of living.

Suppose that you are a bigot intent on restraining progress of a particular class of people. I can think of few better strategies than what progressives and race hustlers have implemented and continue to promote with respect to the black community. Subsidize unproductive behavior. Create economic dependency. Lock workers out of the job market.

Those who support such policies reflect actions of true institutional racists.