Now I really watched this video... Cost me an hour of my life, but I watched it... The "Mario Kart Analogy" was not fun at the slightest...
Correct me, but: This guy doesn't even seem to deny that systemic racism is mostly about wealth distribution (and hardly about prejudice). It is just that white people happen to have accumulated more wealth because of history. Ultimately it is this advantage that continues to have an effect (with a few hundred years of interest). - This seems to be "sytemic racism" in a nutshell.
The only "solution" he actually suggests seems to be reparations.
We had this idea in this very thread: But I'd like to understand it better! - How should reparations be done?
- Should immigrants from Africa, who came to the U.S. during the last 10 years, receive reparations?
- Should black people, whose families immigrated to the US voluntarily (and not as slaves), ever receive reparations?
- Should rich black NBA-players receive reparations, if their ancestors were slaves?
- Should convicted criminals receive reparations?
- Which state body should decide on the handling of compensation payments?
... or just tell me: What factors do you have in mind to qualify for reparations?
I've always found the idea of reparations an incredibly silly idea. It's the exact definition of "we don't know what to do about this problem so...let's just throw money at it, and hope for the best."
I'd say the first problem is that many of those living in poverty are also uneducated, inexperienced, and typically undisciplined. They are also often afflicted by a variety of addictions. Giving these people money won't solve any problems, but will instead actually benefit those who are already wealthy and in power. Those who are impoverished typically have no experience with or interest in things like long-term investments such as stocks, gold/silver, etc. Any money received by people like this will not only be spent and gone in no time, but will instead be funneled into the pockets of the already wealthy. A better solution instead throwing money at people, would be to provide better, more high quality and accessible education which promotes lucrative career paths and healthy money management. Of course that's just the beginning, but it's much better than just handing out money. Teach a man to fish and all that.
Secondly, who gets what and how much is another question altogether. As already stated, not every African American has suffered equally or comes from a place of poverty and disenfranchisement which brings up more problems. You've already asked some good questions in this category, so I'll stop here.
Lastly, I don't think many people think about how much this is going to worsen race relations if something like this were to happen. I'd imagine Native Americans will feel incredibly neglected to see African Americans receive monetary compensation for being abused while they get nothing And sure, you could always argue that African Americans were treated worse for longer or something, but then all you're doing is turning this into a "who was victimized more" party. I'm sure Chinese would argue that they were worked like slaves on the railroads and treated as subhuman. The Japanese were literally taken from their homes, forced to shutdown their businesses, and locked in internment camps for the sole crime of being of Japanese ancestry then let out and expected to survive years later. And Mexicans are STILL incredibly abused in the US by big corporations who force them to work as slaves for pitiful compensation under the constant threat of violence and deportation. And there's many more. I can see all these peoples being incredibly upset with their history of abuse being ignored while African Americans are the only ones compensated. These people along with every other citizen who follows the law, works hard, and does their best to maybe barely scrape by, but is still crushed under the heels of the wealthy elite will likely become increasingly hostile to the African Americans who will be (ironically) privileged enough to receive special compensation.
Anyway, that's just off the top of my head. It's a goofy concept not even worth considering. Like offering a cough drop to a person with a cold, it'll mask the symptoms for a while, but won't cure anything.
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