How much have you benefited from racism?

Interesting premise for a book, as I have considered similar for my life.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/22/us/the-white-bonus-book-tracie-mcmillan-cec

In my case, my dad got his education in a highly sought after engineering field in a segregated program in a segregated state - a program that would not have been available had he been born black. After marrying, he and my mom bought a house that would not have been available to him if he were black. And when they sold that house 8 years later, it sold within hours for multiple times above asking price because it was in a school district that was not involved in a recently enacted bussing program. White flight had driven up demand and the price of their house by 4 times. That increase allowed them to buy another house that would have otherwise been well out of their income range. And when they relocated a few years after that, that real estate investment allowed them to buy a house in a neighborhood that has since turned into one of the more expensive zip codes in the country and put me in a highly-regarded school district.

So, yeah, I have definitely benefited from racism. I don't deny it.

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BohemianBoo · M

I'm white, so I haven't benefitted from affirmative action.

Ynotisay · M

@BohemianBoo You don't think you've benefited? When more people have access to higher education it means a more productive society and prosperous society. Like JFK said. A rising tide lifts all boats. That's true.

BohemianBoo · M

@Ynotisay Affirmative action doesn't give more people access to higher education, it gives non-white people access over white people.
Now if affirmative action was class-based, that actually would give more people access, since rich people already have more than enough access to anything they want. But our current program is basically, let's give the non-white working-class an advantage over the white working-class.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@BohemianBoo i doubt that the average affirmative action beneficiary could claim a 7 figure benefit.

BohemianBoo · M

@trollslayer Like I said, [i]"But our current program is basically, let's give the non-white working-class an advantage over the white working-class."[/i]

Yeah, it doesn't make people rich. But it does create non-white privilege in that it gives the non-white workers an advantage over white workers. Neither group is getting rich, but social mobility is easier if you're not white.