Reflect on the discussion about history, our foundational structures, the "red lining" of families of color out of opportunity for economic advancement, the connection between poverty, educational opportunity, and incarceration. Are you able to see those connections? Yes, I am able to see these connections. I understand that becoming anti-racist involves more than the superficial nature of how I as an individual treat someone and involves me reflecting on laws and socio-economics. It requires taking a difficult look at capitalism as an institution, American capitalism in practice and globalization. It is understanding generational failures and how that has shaped where we are today.
If this country was based on foundational structures of racism, is it truly possible to dismantle them within the system or are alternative systems needed?
There is a clear connection between redlining and keeping neighborhoods of color in poverty, lack of resources for schools in these neighborhoods (in a system based on property taxes), and the prison-industrial complex that criminalizes people of color. With less resources for schools, students feel less engaged and may end up skipping school. Being stuck in poverty and without other economic opportunity, individuals may choose to sell drugs to make money, which is then criminalized for exorbitant amounts of time due to privatized prisons that have quotas (see 13th movie). Having police presence in schools means more people of color are criminalized for petty fights and skirmishes that schools in whiter areas do at the same rates. Additionally, many poorer neighborhoods have higher crime rates due to the poverty and higher police surveillance and these have been kept in place by redlining, less economic opportunity, and increase in law enforcement in these neighborhoods. Black Americans are so much more likely to be criminalized than their white counterparts in this country for doing the same things!