We have not moved beyond race.Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2015-09-15 15:31Z by Steven |
We have not moved beyond race.
St. Louis does not have a proud history on this topic, and we are still suffering the consequences of decisions made by our predecessors.
However, it’s important to understand that racial inequity in our region is not the same as individual racism. We are not pointing fingers and calling individual people racist. We are not even suggesting that institutions or existing systems intend to be racist.
What we are pointing out is that the data suggests, time and again, that our institutions and existing systems are not equal, and that this has racial repercussions. Black people in the region feel those repercussions when it comes to law enforcement, the justice system, housing, health, education, and income.
Rev. Starsky Wilson, Rich McClure, et. al., “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,” The Ferguson Commission, September 14, 2015. 7. http://forwardthroughferguson.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/FergusonCommissionReport_091415.pdf.