When Progress Is at the Same Time a Lack of Progress: Celebrating Juneteenth by ‘Bringing Light’ to the History of the Different Forms and Methods that Systemic Racism Expresses Its Oppression.
Juneteenth became a national holiday on Thursday June 17th, 2021. We dedicate this show to the drastically increasing wealth inequality we have witnessed since the 1980s to date as our democracy has been increasingly compromised accordingly. This show details the significance and degree of this generally unreported attack of the middle and more disenfranchised majority of Americans.
We then detail that within that matrix of inequality how the racial wealth divide further aggravates the unfairness in opportunities for African Americans compared to whites. We describe in depth how the methods of oppression have changed but not the outcomes which today find median African American wealth at just 1/10th of that of white family household median wealth. We detail how slavery as an inhibitor of wealth accumulation for blacks was replaced with legalizing the criminalizing of African Americans following Reconstruction through “black codes” and “convict leasing”.
As the Jim Crow era morphed into modern day discrimination, we describe how the Social Security Act of 1935 and the 1944 GI Bill also disproportionately benefitted white families over black families in a very significant fashion. We end the show with empirical examples of more modern-day forms of systemic racism that undeniably (unless you are in denial) paint a clear picture of the second-class citizenry status of our African American cohorts as we find ourselves well into the 21st century. They also paint a clear picture revealing the false rationalizing that the primary driver behind wealth inequality is lack of drive or lack of educational pursuit and attainment.
It is time to face the truth of our condition and demand the change our constitution and a commitment to fairness demands. The most powerful nation in world history can surely alleviate want and dismantle systemic racism if it decides it, is a real priority. But we must see and understand the problem first. This show reveals the root problems facing our country that are hidden from view by a mainstream media that is part of the problem. Please tune in weekly to Bringing Light into Darkness, as we seek to bring ‘honest light’ to what we all need to know and see in order to be responsible citizens and hold our government to doing the right thing. And please pass on your comments and critical reflections to the email address below. In pursuit of social justice & Siempre fieles,
Pgatos pgatos00@gmail.com 6/21/2021
If you are not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing. – Malcolm X