I’ve been reading a lot of Marginal Revolution recently. And I want to try a post in their style: shorter more questioning than answering.

I’ve been reading Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. It is really sad, important and readable, which is a rare combination. This quote has really stuck with me. She is talking about how San Francisco and Boston stopped asking for criminal records at the beginning of the application process:

“Some scholars believe, based on the available data, that black males may suffer more discrimination–not less–when specific criminal history information is not available. Because of the association of race and criminality is so pervasive, employers may use less accurate and discriminatory methods to screen out those perceived to be likely criminals. Popular but misguided proxies for criminality–such as race, receipt of public assistance, low educational attainment, and gaps in work history–could be used by employers when no box is available on the application form to identify criminals”

I also heard about this study from The Weeds. It analyzed a school integration program in Palo Alto California. It found that the minority students who were brought into the wealthier school did better in school but they were arrested significantly more for non-violent offenses. Which sounds bad, and it is, but maybe not in the way you thought. The minority students who were going to a school outside their neighborhood were much more likely to be pulled over by the police. This wasn’t because they were doing more engaged in illegal activity than their peers, but was because of racial profiling by police officers. They were pulled over because they weren’t supposed to be in such a nice neighborhood, and were assumed to be causing trouble.

Both of these works point to how deep racism is in America, even when something is done to help discrimination, another arm of racism comes up to pick up the slack.

Explicit racism is going strong as evidenced by Trump. Implicit bias is sticky. I’ve taken the IAT several times while diversifying my media consumption and my score has gone from strong preference for white people to a moderate preference.

Seen from this angle I don’t see any movement for justice and conciliation that is appropriate other than radical reparations. Although the battle should be fought on both fronts, the economic realities rooted in slavery and continued racism have to change for the stereotypes to have a hope of changing.

Thoughts?