Kavin Nakkeeran ’22

These past few weeks have broken us, divided us, hurt us. The United States of America is literally on fire. Atlanta, Bakersfield, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, no, this is not a list of major American cities in alphabetical order, this is a list of cities in active protest. In protest to arrest the three other “complicit” police officers who stood by and did nothing as George Floyd was murdered at the hands of a sociopath. In protest against a system, a system that views some as inferior, as a threat, just because of the color of their skin. Because that is what this conversation is about. It is not about looting and rioting, it is not about CNN, nor Antifa. It is about the systematic racism that has fueled this country for so long. 

I, like so many of my peers growing up in Central New Jersey, have a unique perspective on the issue. I consider myself an American to every extent possible, but it is easy to detach myself from hundreds of years of pain and suffering. I can say “they did that” or “that happened” and remove myself from any accountability. But, by living in America, by breathing here, when so many cannot, I, too, am part of the system. 

When my parents, and a lot of others like them, immigrated to America, they saw what was going on and absorbed it. The Americans did Thanksgiving, so every year, they cut up turkey like their American counterparts and feasted on it. They saw the NBA and kids playing pickup games, so they picked up basketball. That’s how they absorbed American culture, by soaking up what they saw. And they saw a system where blacks were inferior to whites, where everyone was fine with what was happening. My dad had never encountered any race but his own before migrating to the US, so why is it that he got uncomfortable when seeing his black neighbors in Atlanta? And I tell them, the system is broken, we have to fix it, but they just say, you don’t understand, that’s just how it works, that’s just how this country is. But that’s just it. In an effort to be accepted, they accepted racism without questions. That’s the difference between me and my parents. They see the world as it is, but I see the world as it should be.

Truth to be told, they are right, that is how the world is. In 2015, the Hamilton project compiled data stating that around 16% of the black population, compared with around 19% of the white population, used drugs. And while drug usage and selling (both roughly at 1%) were equal between the race, black Americans were 6.5 times more likely to be arrested and incarcerated for it on the state level. Let that sink in. If your skin is a darker color, you are 6.5 times more likely to go to jail for the same offense. 

Nobody is saying that every single police officer is inherently racist. But as a whole, the policing system encourages racial profiling and racial targeting, at the expense of hundreds of lives. That is what ACAB and other organizations supporting police reform are, a manifestation of the frustration against the policing system. Any one who believes that the ACAB is arguing for anarchy and death of police officers is just using a strawman because they do not want to accept the truth. Our country is broken. 

But systematic racism goes beyond policing and criminal justice. We think of redlining as something of the past, but in just 2018, two years ago, Reveal from the Center of Investigative Reporting analyzed that black applicants are 2.7 times less likely to be accepted for homeownership than their white counterparts. This report took into consideration nine other economic factors related to banks lending money, but still found that blacks were denied owning property just because of their skin color. 

The list goes on and on, from health laws to employment, but for me, the most important example of institutionalized racism is education. Americans have long believed that equal opportunity will lead to equality. That is why the United States was the first nation to institute widespread public education. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that linking the education system to property taxes leads to unequal opportunity and inequality. The median net worth of a black household is just 17,500 dollars, in contrast with the 171,000 average net worth of white families. This is caused by centuries of slavery and decades of laws that prevented free blacks from owning property and accumulating wealth. But now, we are denying them the right to escape poverty. Lower property taxes lead to less funding for education systems, which then, in turn, is leading to higher dropout rates, all leading back to the lower net worth of black families. There is no break from this cycle, which has perpetuated in black communities from the 19th century.

Obviously, rioting and looting is not the answer to this beyond complex network that works against some. Historically and morally, peaceful protests have always availed. From Gandhi’s liberation of India to Martin Luther King Jr.’s Civil Rights movement, we have succeeded with calm heads and steady voices. Now is not the time to throw that away.

Racism is not political. These protests are not political. This is not a “leftist campaign for the election.” This is about equality. For 8 minutes and 46 seconds, George Floyd was restrained by a knee on his neck. But the truth is, for over 400 years, African Americans have been oppressed by systematic racism. This is a fight to be free.