Scratch the surface of almost any American institution and you’ll find white supremacy festering there. The rot is pervasive.

I don't, but based on every time I've looked into historical stuff in the US, I also kinda do. It's been heaping helpings of racism all the way down so many times that I expect it now. At present, I don't know these specifics, but I'm sure they're the normal amount of horrible exhausting trash.

Yeah, I knew that large portions of it benefited white people vastly more than anyone else. But I’m not sure most whites do. I do think many people know redlining was racist, but might not know that was part of the New Deal.

Most people don't but I do. (GI Bill as well.)

Learning the history of the "tipped minimum wage" was an eye-opener in that regard.

We give lots of talks about the history of racism in property and no, no they do not know that. But talking about it is really effective -- I think it's disarming to tell some audiences that the history of racism is not a one-party problem.

No, no they don’t.

“When Affirmative Action Was White” (Katznelson) is how I know

I did not...a new topic for me to look into. Thank you!

This cartoon by @slyngstad.bsky.social is a good start. www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/gi...

Thanks!

Would also recommend The Color of Law. Absolutely eye opening. Redlining has become better known in recent years but what the government did went FARRRR beyond that.

Thanks, I'll add that to my reading list!

It had some benefit, but also explicitly or implicitly limited black people in benefitting from many/most of the programs. Unconscionable.

Nope, but it is completely unsurprising.

What in this country is/was *not* racist? Such a short list. Reconstruction?

www.learningforjustice.org/podcasts/tea... Didn't know until I was 40

I also was today years old when I found out. Thanks for the link!

Pretty sure a lot of immigrant communities don't know anything about it.

It's definitely not universal knowledge.

They don't. I know I didn't for a long time. It definitely needs some reinforcement.

Same.

I think the average person doesn't know, but a lot of left-wing intellectuals putting it forward uncritically as the model definitely know and don't wanna deal with that.

they do not, you're correct.

And that’s why the Green New Deal is explicitly green, so that it wasn’t just white again…

No they don’t. They don’t see us.

We found out about Black Wallstreet from a TV Show, based on a comic book. What do you think?

no

Even those white Americans who DO acknowledge that, for example, the New Deal was racist still cannot get over the next hurdle of admitting that they did and still are benefitting from said racism. Because admitting that we benefit from it NOW means it can also be remediated NOW.

It is quite similar to the discussion of white privilege because even if they can recognize that historically, white people were better off in this country, when it comes to their own lives, they can't POSSIBLY have white privilege because they [insert one bad thing that happened to them once].

It was very racist, but if Alabama had had its way it would have been very much more racist.

And around here a lot of the white backlash against the New Deal was about what “they” got out of it.

You reminded me of this rewriting, from Jacobin. jacobin.com/2024/09/new-...

Yes, it was racist in implementation. https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html#:~:text=The%201935%20act%20limited%20its,motive%20for%20this%20coverage%20exclusion.

I cannot be surprised by this. Truly.

I know this is their whole thing.

It became that way. When they first launched, I saw so much promise in their project. But alas, here we are.

I really like The Dig but god does the magazine have some bad takes.

Even wrote for them a couple of times.

I wrote for them once, too. I like some of their work but their race politics are…wanting.

I mean…. Black folk called it the “Raw Deal.” They described the National Recovery Act as the “Negro Runaround Act” & “Negroes Robbed Again.” *Some* were able to tap into 🤏🏾some🤏🏾 benefits.

Yes it was: https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v70n4/v70n4p49.html#:~:text=The%201935%20act%20limited%20its,motive%20for%20this%20coverage%20exclusion.

White people don't, that's for sure. Some of us do, but by and large white Americans are unable or unwilling to see that systemic racism is present in everything this country has ever done, even the good things.

Pretty sure most people don't.

Admittedly? No

I feel like I generally knew because of course it would be, but had never really learned the specifics of why until I was in my mid twenties. There's probably a good chunk of people who assume it/parts of it was, but far more just don't know or haven't thought about it at all.

HOLC maps and red-lined neighborhoods, yes.

That is a definite no. Had to explain it a few times.

i think a lot of ppl do but can't/won't acknowledge it bc they kneejerk view the topic as an attack vector for neolibs cynically trying to poison the welfare state well and fall into denialism possible that i am being too charitable with my read here, but that's my sense of it

tbc i am explicitly talking about nominal lefties who you would expect to know better here, not actual normies

Absolutely not. And they have no idea re: the racist application of policies such as the GI Bill

It's so so sad to me.

We are so propagandized. And the kids like me who were in elementary school for "No Child Left Behind" are parents now. So yeah...

We're in such a major mess. It's hard sometimes to see clear paths forward but one of them HAS TO BE to improve overall political education. It's critical.

Your original post could apply to every single economy under every single President. The New Deal was not the cause of racist policy, racism was a force placed upon it, particularly by the racist southern Democrats.

An all inclusive New Deal style economy was promoted by Jessie Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition in the 80s and 90s after the civil rights movement, but Dems chose Clinton’s conservative economics that dismantled it along with the goal of FDR’s second bill of rights.

Instead of robust public services like Europe has, we got “meritocracy” that only works for a tiny sliver at the top and led to extreme wealth inequality and a decimated middle class.