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Economics and Racism …As I See It
By Pearlette E. Springer (June 2006)
“…Once there was a man who was about to leave home on a trip; he called his servants and put them in charge of his property. He gave to each one according to ability; to one he gave five thousand gold coins; to another he gave two thousand, and to another he gave one thousand. Then he left on his trip. The servant who had received five thousand coins went at once and invested the money and earned another five thousand. In the same way the servant who had received two thousand coins earned another two thousand. But the servant who had received one thousand coins went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid the master’s money.” Matthew 25:14-18
The U.S. economic system, for people of color, is like the parable of coins. The master (the institutional power), gave five thousand coins to less than one percent of people of color, two thousand coins to one-fourth of people of color, and one thousand coins to three-fourths of people of color. All three of these groups have lived institutional racism and have internalized life in a racist society.
Those with the five thousand coins believe they have broken the glass ceiling and gained status. Having little or no fear of losing, they invest large sums of their coins in their futures.
Those with the two thousand coins can see and feel the glass ceiling and dream of having status. However, they live with the fear of losing it unjustly. They invest regularly in their future.
For those with one thousand coins, quality of life varies greatly. Approximately one-third have learned to live a meager existence and invest a little in the future. Another one-third live paycheck-to-paycheck, barely making ends meet, and invest very little, if any, in the future. The bottom one-third live a life of despair, never seem to make ends meet, fear losing everything – because it has happened before – and sometimes feel that the whole world, including other people-of-color communities, is against them. They have nothing left to invest in the future.
Whether we admit it or not, the United States of America is a Christian country. Contrary to Christian teaching, European immigrants escaping from poverty and religious persecution stole and claimed this country, never admitting that intelligent, civilized people – grounded in their God – already lived on the land. Shortly thereafter, Africans – bought and sold as property – became a huge piece of the nation’s economic system.
When it was decided to stop killing native peoples and enslaving African peoples (not because it was wrong or sinful), the native people were placed on reservations (similar to prisoner of war camps) and the African slaves were set free on the streets with no place to go, no food to eat, no roof or walls for shelter. Needing more cheap labor, the Chinese were brought over to replace the African slave to build the railroad system in the West on land stolen by white investors (bought from people who did not own it). So ended the 19th century.
No separation exists between U.S. economics and racism yet; today the U.S. economic system still depends on the heavy burdens of racism. “Racism” is the misuse of institutional power plus prejudice. The “misuse of institutional power” is the system set in place and kept in place to oppress people. Plus prejudice is to deliberately oppress people of color – the red people (Native Americans), yellow people (Asians), brown people (Latinos), and black people (Africans and people of African descent) – for the benefit of white people.
African Americans (people whose ancestors were slaves) and Native Americans (people placed in prison camps known as reservations) have had the most difficult time obtaining equality in the United States: equality in housing, in employment, in legal protection, in our churches, and in education. People-of-color communities continue to live under the thumb of institutional and systemic racism.
The U.S. economic system places the majority of people of color at the bottom of the economic ladder with little or no possibility of making an upward move toward success. In the past, white “landowners” justified inequality based on skin color and today white “landowners” (our institutions, such as corporate America, Social Security, banking, insurance, legal system, the U.S. Catholic Church, etc.) still justify and control inequality based on skin color.
People of color are entitled to equal status under a constitution that declares we are all free, equal human beings under the law. Racism will destroy us all.
The less than one percent of people of color that received the five thousand coins do not enjoy the light of liberation. They have internalized life in a racist society – two-thirds think of themselves as “white” and they in turn oppress other people of color; one-third reach back into the community to pull others up from the wrath of poverty.
Those who received two thousand coins are reminded that they are people of color each time they attempt to move out of their respective places. They are the agents of change.
And those with one thousand coins live life amidst the violence and genocide in their neighborhood. They celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, weddings, birth and death – while hoping, praying, working toward getting out of the impoverished, war-torn area in which they live, hoping and praying that someday someone will understand the plight of the community and work toward a systemic change in the U. S. economic system.
Christ is counting on you!!!
Pearlette Spring is the director of African American Ministries for the Diocese of Gary (IN), a member of the Pax Christi USA National Council, and an alumnus of Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team. Published June 2006 Pax Christi Catholic Peace Voice (http://www.paxchristiusa.org)
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