Mechanisms of racial disparities

Dan Little describes some Mechanisms of racial disparities.

Little's conclusion is:

In short, there seem to be a great number of mechanisms of racial differentiation that are at work in American society that don't generally presuppose explicit racial antagonism, but that work to channel black individuals into worse outcomes than their white counterparts. These are structural factors that the population faces, not personal factors; and they have pronounced effects when it comes to generating racial disparities in a number of crucial social dimensions.

These mechanisms include:

• The provision of essential social services, like education, health care, and public transport, by local government.
• The access to health care is also tied to employment.

• Actual racial prejudice in hiring practices

Since local governments are heavily depenendent on the local tax base in US society, the quality of public services varies greatly depending on the locale. Racial differentiation leads to economic differentiation which leads to differentiation in the provision of these public services.

The lack of public transport means people are trapped within their locale. Thus, they have limited chances of employment, and therefore access to health care.

Poor public services means poor education which, in turns, leads to reduced job oppportunities.

Even if they manage to overcome all of this, they still face discrimination during the hiring process.

So, racism has a structural basis in tying public services to local government and health care to jobs. But, there is still racial prejudice to stop anyone escaping those traps.

As Malcolm X said, "You cannot have Capitalism without Racism!"