A Searing Look at Systemic Racism
By Julie Freestone
Troy Duster gave Ashby Village a stunning virtual lecture on a broiling day in August that will surely remain seared into the memory of the nearly 300 people who attended.
Duster, Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, past-president of the American Sociological Association and chair of the Board of Directors of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, used the event to explain in vivid ways why the murder of George Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer became a spark for a change in the Zeitgeist —the spirit and culture of this country.
If you missed the lecture, it is available for viewing HERE or by viewing the video above, and a link to Duster’s presentation slides are in the video description and can be accessed HERE. It should be mandatory viewing for anyone who wants to understand what systemic racism is and how the term suddenly after Floyd’s murder became common language for the media, politicians and everyday people.
A shameful anecdote
Duster introduced the audience, who peppered him with questions through the virtual chat function, to the term “structural anecdote”. He described a shameful situation where singer/entertainer Lena Horne realized that white German prisoners of war were getting seated in front of Black American servicemen at a concert she was to perform. She refused to go on stage and was banned by the USO from ever performing for the troops again. That episode reflected the Zeitgeist of America at the time, as did a clip from a rally in Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1939 which ended with the frenzied audience yelling the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil.”
Systemic racism examples
But those were individuals, Duster emphasized. More insidious were the institutions like the Federal Housing Authority which built thousands of houses and sold almost all to whites. Banks that denied loans to Black people or charged them exorbitant interest rates. Realtors who were threatened with losing their licenses for selling to blacks. Police departments that stop and frisk Black and Brown people at disproportionate rates.
And the problem continues. According to one set of figures, the median net worth of white Americans is $172,000; for Black Americans it is $18,500. The disparity is not surprising. “Housing is the source of net worth,” Duster said. Data like this and graphs showed the stunning inequity and personal anecdotes and stories provided unique insight.
After describing the areas of systemic racism, Duster said, “When you have an analysis of systemic racism, you have to talk about systemic solutions.” He pointed out that symbolic gestures like taking down statues and kneeling don’t address systemic problems.
Whatcha gonna do?
Although the topic was certainly serious and painful, Duster injected humor to make some of his points. He told a story about an exchange between comic Richard Pryor and Jim Brown, where Pryor kept complaining and Brown finally said, “Whatcha gonna do about it?”
He posed that question to the Ashby Village audience and when he was asked what would be on his list of solutions, Duster called for a Marshall Plan for America, similar to what happened when World War II ended and the U.S. pumped billions of dollars into Germany to rebuild.
“I don’t come to the discussion with easy answers. It should be the national conversation.” He suggested looking for “soft points for structural changes”, and pointed out that as a result of the pandemic, Americans now understand that health insurance can’t be tied to employment. “This has fed into the shifting spirit of the times, the Zeitgeist. The pandemic has shifted the Zeitgeist.”
And he specifically targeted banks, urging support for politicians who are willing to talk about and support changes in banking behaviors, “Elizabeth Warren had it right”, Duster said, “Get the banks to change their behavior. That would begin to reverse 75-80 years of practices…banks, banks, banks.”
What can Ashby Village do?
In answer to a question from Ashby Village Board President Andra Lichtenstein about how small organizations like Ashby Village can address systemic racism, Duster said, “You have to take seriously how it functions, what its structure is and how it can affect its own diversity. You need to do outreach, you need financing and Ashby Village members could make (targeted) donations. One way to increase diversity is to do outreach to communities in the vicinity where you could increase the diversity.”
And there was so much more, including whether he supports reparations, how he felt about Kamala Harris being chosen to run with Joe Biden, defunding police departments, training for law enforcement, the “plantation” system that is professional sports, accessibility to medication, a reconciliation process similar to what South Africa undertook, and whether America has a social caste system, and on.
Watch Duster’s whole presentation. It just might be one of the most enlightening two hours you’ve ever spent.
This event was FREE for all to attend. Please consider making a gift today, which enables Ashby Village to continue to provide such programming and support to older adults in this particular time of need.