Effects of Racism

The anti-Black American racism on 4chan is a tangled web of lies, out-of-context information, misinformation, and disinformation.  Before analyzing the structure of this web, I'd like to state what I believe about the effects of racism on Black Americans.

I believe that racism against Black Americans has four main forms of effects on Black Americans:  direct effects, effects through the media, effects through relatives, and effects through the neighborhoods in which Black Americans live.  Let me introduce each of these forms of effects briefly.

Direct effects:  When someone -- say, a doctor, or teacher, or police officer -- holds racist beliefs and assumptions, those racist beliefs and assumptions may influence how they interact with individual Black Americans.  For instance, racist assumptions by doctors can lead them to disbelieve what Black patients are telling them about their health.  Racist assumptions by teachers can lead them to judge Black students more harshly, or steer them toward less rewarding careers.  And it goes without saying what the effects of racist assumptions by police officers are.

Effects through the media:  A steady stream of stereotyped Black characters in on-screen dramas, and news reports that reinforce the idea that criminals tend to be Black, causes Black people (especially Black youth) to devalue themselves.

Effects through relatives:  Maybe you didn't do well in college because your Black mother never went to college and couldn't give you advice about how to handle it.  Maybe you grew up without a father in the house because the school-to-prison pipeline landed him in jail for years.  The effects of racism on them affects how you grow up, and thus affects you too.

Effects through neighborhoods:  Some non-Black people tend to move away from neighborhoods with a lot of Black people.  Conversely, many Black people want to live where they don't suffer the direct effects of racism that come from interaction with non-Black people.  This produces a situation in which neighborhoods are segregated by perceived race.  Racist ideas and policies then discriminate against these whole neighborhoods.  For instance, these neighborhoods may experience increased police surveillance, lack of food stores, and withdrawal of fire department services.

These effects of racism form their own web of influence that is passed on from one generation to the next.  But the common thread through all of them is the African ancestry of the people affected.  If you look like you have African ancestors, then probably your parents and the people in your neighborhood do too, and all of these effects of racism can influence your life.