Black
History: Multiracial Future
As we celebrate Black History Month, it is nearly
three years since the Summer of Racial Reckoning inAmerica occasioned by the
police murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Unhappily, we are also mourning the
brutal murder of Tyre Nichols in Memphis and the police killings of two Black
men and one Brown man in Los Angeles right after the New Year.
The miserable state of police-Black community
relations was called into question in 2020. But the entire host of inequities
between the races was also laid bare in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
These included health care access, and who put themselves at risk to deliver
health care and get food from farm to table, along with policing and criminal
justice. Across that summer progressive activists and intellectuals condemned
our entire set of institutions for “systemic” or “structural” racism.
The mass street demonstrations of 2020 were the
most widespread protest seen in the country since the Black Power rebellions of
1967–68. Racial disparities across a range of issues were openly debated.
Liberal politicians began to decry systemic racism. They were joined by
institutional leaders, now “woke’” from education, the arts, sports and even
the corporate sector. After winning a narrow victory for the presidency that
was buttressed by strong turnout from progressives, Joe Biden declared that
Americans must “come together” to “root out systemic racism in our criminal
justice system.”
But we live in a divided country, and indeed two
nations: one liberal and “progressive,” and the other “traditional” and
conservative. Predictably, a traditionalist backlash was mounted. While
many states have passed police reform and oversight laws since 2020, many
others have passed laws to increase police funding. And it has proved
impossible to move the dial on qualified immunity, the policy shielding police
officers from being sued by individuals unless they can show that their rights
were violated.
In education, traditionalists reacted to demands
for more racial diversity and inclusion in school curriculums, claiming that
progressive educators were insinuating critical race theory (CRT) into their
classrooms. CRT has origins in Marxism as well as Black nationalism. Any formal
presentation of CRT is confined to college classrooms. Even there, it is in
contention with other theoretical approaches, and students learn from different
professors teaching other theories. This is as it should be. The sizable
majority of K-12 teachers concerned with diversifying their syllabi today are
not teaching CRT. They’re simply offering a more holistic narrative about
American history and contemporary society.
A Brookings Institution report found that by 2021
several red states had passed legislation to “ban the discussion, training,
and/or orientation that the U.S. is inherently racist as well as any
discussions about conscious and unconscious bias, privilege, discrimination,
and oppression.” At the local level school districts have turned to
book banning. In 128 school districts in 32 states, 5,049 schools, with a
combined enrollment of nearly 4 million students, have banned 41% of their
books because of LGBTQ+ protagonists or themes and banned another 40% that
were predominantly about race.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a possible
Republican presidential candidate in 2024, signed three bills into law in 2021
that direct how race and gender will be discussed from kindergarten through
college. He stated that his goal was to combat the “woke” agenda. Since the
beginning of this year he has banned the new Advanced Placement African
American Studies course and announced his intention to terminate “Diversity,
Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Critical Race Theory (CRT) programs within the
public school systems and reset scholar’s eyes upon the histories and
philosophies of the West.” (The Floridian Jan. 31, 2023)
Progressives pushed back on
several fronts in 2022. The conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court
overturned the Roe v. Wade decision ending federal protection for the right to
an abortion. But voters in blue California, Michigan and Vermont passed
initiatives protecting abortion, while voters in red Montana and Kentucky defeated
measures calling for greater restriction of abortion. In August red Kansas had rejected a constitutional
amendment to end abortion there.
Over the summer progressive and pragmatic Democrats stuck
together to pass the Inflation Reduction Act which includes $369 billion toward
climate and clean energy investment and measures to lower prescription drug
prices and lower health insurance premiums via the Affordable Care Act. And in the fall with a few Republican
votes they passed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure act.
Progressive legislative action bore dividends in the fall
midterm elections. The combination of women activated for choice, the
anticipated benefits from a Congress that acts to improve our lives, and the
wacko candidates Republicans dredged up in some congressional races prevented a
Republican landslide in the House, and allowed Democrats to retain control of
the Senate.
Those not insignificant legislative
victories, however, occurred as cops continue to kill Black people in the
streets with impunity! The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and the John
Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act both passed in the House in 2021, but
languished in the Senate last year. The women’s movement was re-energized
after the loss of Roe. The well-being of middle- and working-class Americans were also advanced by
Congressional action ... But cops are still killing Black people! They’re still
killing Brown people in the streets!
Issues of race remain central to the long-term viability
of a “progressive” multiracial democratic “nation. For me, since our social, economic and political
institutions (the system!) have all been erected upon principles of favoring
white people (white supremacy!), any efforts to build broad support for
economic equity, gender or sexual equity, or comprehensive environmental
protection flounder when they fail to examine racial inequity. The white people
leading the labor, women’s, LBGTQI and environmental movements have all historically
been challenged by people of color when those white led movements have failed
to address the specific concerns of communities of color.
The progressive nation now must continue its thrust forward by electing
more people to Congress who will get the George Floyd and John Lewis bills passed
so more of us can get to the polls, and we can get the cops to stop killing us.
References
1.For the Inflation
Reduction Act, see https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/inflation-reduction-act-lowers-health-care-costs-millions-americans
2. On the
Infrastructure Act, see https://www.customtruck.com/blog/infrastructure-bill-2022-6-things-you-should-know/
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