Comments like Mitch's both prove the point of this article and are representative of how the majority of white people in our area think. We white people don't want racism, both personal and structural, to be the cause of inequality and oppression in our city. If we admit they are, then we implicate ourselves, delegitimize what we have earned (supposedly on our own), and force us to admit the American myth of equality for all has never been fully true people of color. Racism and inequality will not go away because it would force white people, like myself, to let go of collective mythology of hard work and the American dream. For example, wealth in our country comes largely from home ownership. It is fact that the federal and local government used redlining, racial covenants, and exclusionary zoning to benefit whites at the long term expense of blacks. I suggest city newspaper do a series of articles explaining the specifics of how racist federal and local policy largely created the wealth inequality we have today. I would love to see in depth reporting on places like meadowbrook in Brighton, zoning laws in pittsford and penfield that spell out what so many of us already know but are trying so hard to not believe about the foundations of our community. We can't all move forward if we don't deal with the injustice of the past and ignore the injustice of the present.
Re: “How racist is Rochester?”
Comments like Mitch's both prove the point of this article and are representative of how the majority of white people in our area think. We white people don't want racism, both personal and structural, to be the cause of inequality and oppression in our city. If we admit they are, then we implicate ourselves, delegitimize what we have earned (supposedly on our own), and force us to admit the American myth of equality for all has never been fully true people of color. Racism and inequality will not go away because it would force white people, like myself, to let go of collective mythology of hard work and the American dream. For example, wealth in our country comes largely from home ownership. It is fact that the federal and local government used redlining, racial covenants, and exclusionary zoning to benefit whites at the long term expense of blacks. I suggest city newspaper do a series of articles explaining the specifics of how racist federal and local policy largely created the wealth inequality we have today. I would love to see in depth reporting on places like meadowbrook in Brighton, zoning laws in pittsford and penfield that spell out what so many of us already know but are trying so hard to not believe about the foundations of our community. We can't all move forward if we don't deal with the injustice of the past and ignore the injustice of the present.