Discriminatory Practices

The May 5,2019 edition of The New York Times, in the Sunday Review section, provided, In  three articles, descriptions pertaining to racism, in our country  in the past and in the present . It’s clear that continued racism exists overtly.  It’s only the scapegoating and hatred toward some groups that have changed.

The article “When America Built Another Kind of Wall” depicted the despicable hateful sentiment, attitude, and nativism of the elite, and the powerful roughly 100 years ago in our Republic with the following quotes: 1. Calvin Coolidge “Biological   laws tell us that certain divergent people will not mix well or blend. The dead weight of alien accretion stifles national progress.” 2. The New York Times “American Institutions are menaced by swarms of aliens.” 3. Edward A. Ross, sociologist, “They are immune to certain kinds of dirt. They can stand in what would kill a white man.” 4. President of MIT “Newcomers from eastern and southern Europe where vast masses of filth who were living like swine.” 5’ Joseph Lee, Boston philanthropist, “Europe would be drained of Jews- to its benefit no doubt, not ours.” 6. Maxwell Perkins, Editor “Whether we like to admit or not, the mass result of the mixture of the two races in the long run, gives us a race reverting to the lower type. Lower than the Nordics are the questionable Alpines. Lower than the Alpines were the woeful Mediterranean’s. The cross between any of the three European races and a Jew is a Jew.” 7. Carl C. Bringham, psychologist and developer of SAT “There can be no doubt that recent history has shown a movement of inferior peoples or inferior representatives of people to this country.” 8. Perkins and others “The rush of lower races is threatening the very blood of our country.”

The thinking and blatant prejudice by the privileged white {WASP} resulted in the passage of the 1924 Immigration Act. Prior to this legislation, 220,000 Italians entered Staten Island .After this legislation, fewer than 40,000 were admitted. Reductions were imposed on other eastern and southern European groups. However, thousands of openings remained for Britons, Scandinavians   and other Nordic peoples. Further, Madison Grant, founder of the Bronx Zoo was asked “Can we build a wall high enough around this country, to keep out the unwanted?”

So much for change. Although, except for social media, overt hate dialogue has been modified regarding race, Xenophobia etc.  In the next article, “Taxing the Rich is Harder than it Sounds” described the unfair discriminatory policies of the government’s IRS institution. Large corporations and individuals making $ 10 million or more are no match for the IRS’s slashed budget. The wealthy powerful have unlimited resources and brain power that intimidate the inept and weakened IRS. The wealthy have taken advantage of the loopholes in the tax code and have created sophisticated tax shelter schemes. Essentially, they are not audited. Instead , the IRS picks on or audits about 1/3  of claims pertaining to earned income tax credits {one of the largest anti-poverty  government programs} .These 1/3  were found in mostly African –American counties in the deep south.  The IRS wins over the more vulnerable .The system continues to be rigged and unfair.

Another discriminatory institution was exposed in the “Imprisoned for Helping the Widow Next Door” article. In the 1970’s our countries incarceration rates were about the same as Europe’s. Atty. Gen William Barr in 1992 issued a report “The Case for More Incarcerations.” America listened. It worked. Today with 5% of the world’s population, we lock up almost 25% of the world’s prisoners. We hold the record. We are number 1! This statistic does not make America great. Instead, it exposes our prejudices.

These, in many cases, victims are not eligible for Pell Grants {for schooling and training} nor eligible to vote. We also know about the discriminatory
 hiring practices, housing difficulties etc. pertaining to this racially biased jailed population. Our prejudiced policies and profit motive have magnified the racial gaps, left millions marginalized, added to income inequality and again have scapegoated the powerless.

 We have destroyed the hope of a positive present and future for too many.  We[FL1] , the voters, and the lawmakers are guilty and have perpetuated and reinforced deplorable practices. It’s clear that discrimination has been in place per our Constitution (African Americans were 3 out of every 5 slaves counted as a person} since the start of our Republic.  It’s up to us to get in touch and change our unjust discriminatory belief practices with reason and less with twisted emotion or hatred. In essence, critical and independent thinking must challenge and overcome the existing faulty ideology that pervades our political and capitalistic way of life.

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 [FL1]