Quote:
Originally Posted by mapuc
My comment was a question to Catfish based on his comment in #1514(one page back)
Where he wrote:
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It is about the underlying situation called systemic racism.
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And furthermore
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Systemic racism is so deeply embedded in american culture and behaviour that it is not even recognised as such anymore. It is what sociologists call cognitive dissonance, the "discomfort is triggered by the person's belief clashing with new information perceived, wherein they try to find a way to resolve the contradiction to reduce their discomfort.
"
It was the words Systemic racism, that made me wonder if the American law is racist in its construction
Markus
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Trying to answer that, initially it was of course "racist" by today's definition, like a lot of other nations of the time. I have no idea whether slavery was written down as an existing law, but it was self-evidently accepted everywhere, what would you need laws for?
The initial U.S. economy especially in the south was built on the exploitation and occupational segregation of people of color.
Laws were there in a way that any marriage between black and white was not allowed, which punishment should be used, how much a negro should cost and which basic support he had to receive, like food, water and clothes. The slave holder had a bit of responsibility, but no one really cared about breaking those laws.
There could also be mutual respect by both sdes, but the underlying system was only supprting the white population.
"Funny" enough people of colour lost their right to vote soon again, after the secession wars, then the indroduction of the "Jim Crow laws", and worse. Those laws have since been removed, but not the basis how some people still think.
Then there were the Indians, the (broken) treaties, the reservations. Female indians are still regarded as fair game by the white population, up north to Canada. If someone is interested in that stuff you can read some works by Tomson Highway, who we have met personally, if accidentally.
This first link tells a lot about the economy back then and how it worked:
https://www.americanprogress.org/iss...c-opportunity/
This probably tells you a bit about what i mean with 'systemic', today. First one is a spin-off of the second link, which shows a broader picture.
https://www.annualreviews.org/shot-o...m-roots-in-law
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10...-110316-113452
Slavery is of course linked to racism, but racism can exist without direct slavery being allowed.