A
recent column of mine pointed out that racism is no longer an important factor in
American life. George countered, “A black person from a central city is about
three times more likely to be rejected for a mortgage than his white
counterpart. That’s racism.”
No
it isn’t. If both applicants have similar employment, income, and family
situations, and neither one has a police record, you can bet that the mortgage
officer would provide mortgages to both parties, not just because she’d want
to, but also because the liberal press is prone to label people racist at the
drop of a hat. The loan officer might well be black herself.
George
persisted, “But central-city blacks are likely to be behind in terms of employment,
income, family situations, and police records. Surely this is evidence of racism.”
Not
so. By far the most important cause of the disparity between whites and blacks is
government policies that are not intended to hurt the poor but in the long run
hurt them anyway. I count over twenty such policies. Fifteen I have cited in
these columns (which can be read at archierichards.blogspot.com). Others I will
describe in the future.
Advertisements
are telling. Until about 1960, when America was indeed racist, blacks were
usually shown in ads as subservient to whites. Now, television ads show blacks as
equals of whites. Liberals seem unaware of how much America has changed.
