How the Supreme Court is about to explode America’s racial wealth gap

Salon ^ | March 14, 2015 | Sean McElwee and Catherine Ruetschlin

[EveningStar]

Yet again, conservatives on the Supreme Court are poised to do significant damage to minority communities

When discussing race, the conservative argument is best expressed by the famous words of Chief Justice John Roberts: “The best way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” Translation: America has done bad things in its history, but those bad things are gone now, so we should move past those horrors and look forward.

Conservatives believe that if blacks and Latinos simply work hard, get a good education and earn a good income, historical racial wealth gaps will disappear. The problem is that this sentiment ignores the ways that race continues to affect Americans today. A new report from Demos and Brandeis University, “The Racial Wealth Gap: Why Policy Matters,” makes this point strongly. The report shows that focusing on education alone will do little to reduce racial wealth gaps for households at the median, and that the Supreme Court, through upcoming decisions, could soon make the wealth gap explode.

[Jedidah]

“Conservatives believe that if blacks and Latinos simply work hard, get a good education and earn a good income, historical racial wealth gaps will disappear.”

Bingo.

[jocon307]

“lowering the cap on the mortgage interest deduction”

What does this mean? Do they think extremely rich black people are having an issue with their mortgage deductions?

[VRW Conspirator]

Translation: America has done bad things in its history, but those bad things are gone now, so we should move past those horrors and look forward.

Translation of the translation: you whities should feel guilty for all generations and cough up all your wealth for the gimmedats.

[Dagnabitt]

"White Privilege" is old news.

Let's discuss "Asian Privilege".

[The Duke]

Conservatives believe that if blacks and Latinos simply work hard, get a good education and earn a good income, historical racial wealth gaps will disappear.

There's nothing "simple" about doing that. (Well, I guess it's a lot easier if you've get some preferential treatment).

[djf]

I suspect it’s Melinda Gates.

[Texan5]

That is NOT true of any Latino of my acquaintance-self included-we hate illegals and welfare, and do ask for welfare, even if we’re broke-we work extra hours...

[faithhopecharity]

Affirmative Action was supposed to be a TEMPORARY expedient, darnit!!!!!!!!!

[faithhopecharity]

a HALF CENTURY of Affirmative Action...open widespread RACIAL DISCRIMINATION...
as a matter of law....
everywhere in America....

we are an APARTHEID NATION, our legal system has institutionalize RACE DISCRIMINATION as a pervasive reality throughout our society

(AA was supposed to be a temporary one-time expedient to provide some ‘catching up’... it was never to be a permanent race law)

[Texan5]

Absolutely-and if the grid is attacked by terrorists and goes down, the big cities will be traps anyway-anyone without an escape plan, a place to go to ground in BFE, and the ability to survive when they get to BFE will probably be history in a very short time...

[Go Gordon]

>I?Who is the wealthiest woman in the US?

Oprah?

[Texan5]

Pardon my typing-that should read “and do NOT ask for welfare”.

[snoringbear]

“Then they can rise up like they did in Haiti, slaughter all the remaining whites”

Umm, this ain’t Haiti.

[Jacquerie]

One of the nuances of Mark Levin's Liberty Amendments, for which he gets little credit, is the proper extension of state sovereignty which James Madison wrestled with in his post Alien and Sedition Act analysis. It is a pity the Articles of Confederation so polluted the concept of an adequately federal government. Madison's analysis, his Report of 1800 is a difficult read. I don't claim to comprehend it much beyond what others have written of it. Madison did not support single state nullification. Neither do I.

What is clear is that an additional approach for the people to arrest unconstitutional statutes, beyond reliance on state appointed senators, or Article V, is one of Mark Levin's suggested amendments, which would arm three fifths of the states to repeal congressional statutes, regulations, and Scotus decisions.

[mrsmel]

Translation: America has done bad things in its history, but those bad things are gone now, so we should move past those horrors and look forward.

So, the flip side would be "People who never engaged in slavery or Jim Crow, who weren't even born then, or whose forefathers came to this country post-Civil war, must be discriminated against on behalf of people who mostly never experienced the discrimination, even when those people's families are upper middle class or better, economically".

Or, it might be-"Let's stereotype a whole race of people-whites-for the sins of a few whites in the dead past, because that will make up for the discrimination those dead people practiced upon other dead people".

But what it boils down to is more discrimination against the innocent. The left doesn't believe in stereotyping, unless it's against whites.

[mrsmel]

Yeah, all those Section 8 renters moved wholesale into middle and working class neighborhoods are working great-just not for the people who paid equity with their own hard-earned money.

[mrsmel]

I am sincerely glad that I’ll be dead before that day-when whites become a minority. Seeing the results of that calculation in other countries has been edifying.

[dowcaet]

Go to any public library in any major city and take a peek inside during the afternoon hours and make note of the ethnic makeup of the people inside studying. Next, go to any mall in any major city and go to a major shoe store such as Foot Locker and Champs when a new Nike Air Jordan shoe hits the shelves, and make note of the racial makeup of the majority of people waiting in line. That will give you some anecdotal evidence of why there is a racial wealth gap and it has nothing to do with racism. It’s all about culture and what they prioritize in particular ethnic groups. The abundance of opportunities and success for every American, regardless of color, is plentiful and these same race baiters at Salon and elsewhere can go stick it!

[Cboldt]

According to this wiki list, neither of us was right, but you were much closer than I was.

[Kickass Conservative]

Missed the sarc/ tag.

The Big O has a first name
It’s O-P-R-A-H
The Big O has a second name
It’s W-I-N-F-R-Y

If you ask me why I will reply
That Whitey’s always getting by

With making Blacks a Second Class
As big as Oprah’s Rich Black Ass