Challenging an epidemic of systemic racism in America
With the goal of catalyzing lasting change in American racial dynamics, I propose that we manufacture a methodical response to recent events that challenges the institutions perpetuating systemic racism.
In math, proving “necessary and and sufficient conditions” is a common pursuit. To provide a non-mathematical example, the fact “today is neither Saturday nor Sunday” is both necessary and sufficient to claim that “today is a weekday”. While this statement seems trivial, for a condition to be simultaneously necessary and sufficient is a powerful thing and often requires careful proof. Some of the great results in modern mathematics, as well as some of the field’s remaining unsolved problems, involve proving them. To define and rigorously prove necessary and sufficient conditions allows us to better understand mathematical objects and truths, which consequently describe the world we live in.
I am a firm believer in applying mathematical concepts to comprehend everyday reality, in contexts both practical and poetic. Over the past several weeks, I’ve found myself thinking a great deal about what comprises a necessary and sufficient condition, but not regarding my work. Rather, I wonder how we can identify necessary and sufficient strategies to create lasting social change in this country. Clearly, this remains an open question for many of us. It has become indisputably evident that we, as Americans, are not only living through a pandemic, but also an epidemic of systemic racism and racial injustice against Black Americans. It circulates like a current, ingrained in the foundations of our country and seeping into every sphere of reality as we know it. For many of us, the epidemic oscillates between existing as white noise, barely discernible in our daily lives, and crescendoing to a shrieking pitch so exigent that we are compelled to speak and act against it. It is widely acknowledged that this epidemic has existed in America since before our country’s inception, that it frequently poses acute danger to many citizens of color, and that it stimulates an often violent expression of human cruelty.
Despite the obvious disadvantages this epidemic presents to our society, America cannot figure out how to eradicate systemic racism — in relation to police brutality or any other domain of life. I was a high school junior when Trayvon Martin was shot by policeman George Zimmerman and the Black Lives Matter movement emerged. I was about to enter college when Eric Garner was killed by Daniel Pantaleo, repeating the words “I can’t breathe” until he died. The irony of what happened to Eric Garner and the recent murder of George Floyd is not lost on us. After all the outrage, protests, and momentum we went through back then, we continue to find ourselves confronted with more instances of police brutality. We, as American citizens, react based on a collective pain that pushes us to engage in public discourse… for a while. At least, until we fixate our attention elsewhere. Meanwhile, our government continues to enforce the local police departments and criminal justice system that actively perpetuate systemic racism. Despite our earlier efforts, America is trapped in a vicious cycle. In other words, these earlier efforts may have been necessary to stimulate lasting change, but they were not also sufficient. We have not done enough yet.
If we are serious about eliminating this epidemic, we can utilize the idea of necessary and sufficient conditions in different ways. We can use them as tools to better understand the nature of our society’s problems. We can use them to evaluate whether or not a particular response is doing enough to provoke lasting change. We can use them as mental reminders to keep maintaining our efforts over longer periods of time. Ultimately, as is done in mathematics, we can take advantage of necessary and sufficient conditions to manufacture a stronger understanding of the world we live in and a stronger response to the aspects of society that are harmful.
But how can we implement this philosophy in a concrete way? How will this framework specifically help us break the wheel and eradicate America’s epidemic of systemic racism? I propose the following as a start:
- Using data as a means to quantify and understand racial injustice issues in America
Recently, FiveThirtyEight published an article that quantitatively displays the differences in understandings between white and Black Americans on police brutality and race relations, among other issues. Oftentimes, while a majority of white Americans perceive these issues as serious, the percentage of white Americans was substantially smaller than that of Black Americans. For instance, Thus, many people in this country, particularly groups that are not directly affected by this epidemic, do not even realize how pervasive racial issues are in America. Before we can act to eradicate the problem, we all have to acknowledge how deeply it affects both individual citizens and society as a whole.
Turning to quantitative models and statistical analyses reveals how deep the epidemic of systemic racism runs in our country in as objective a manner as possible. While conclusions drawn from a given model should be taken with a grain of salt, they can often provide reasonable answers to many of the questions we ask. How often does police violence happen in America and what are the racial demographics of the victims? How effective are protests? How often do police officers get convicted after shootings? How often has national news coverage focused on Black Lives Matter?
Yes, most of these links go to FiveThirtyEight. But it’s a great place to start digging and learn more. In order to understand how our actions can satisfy both necessary and sufficient criteria, we need to understand the problem for what it actually is and beyond our subjective perceptions of reality.
2. Challenge the existing institutions that actively perpetuate systemic racism.
The term systemic racism, which refers to racism imposed on groups of people by the institutions of society (e.g. criminal justice, housing, education, etc.), is being used a lot these days. Reckoning with what this term actually means has everything to do with ensuring our actions are both necessary and sufficient. Any form of participation in the movement against racial injustice is pivotal at this moment. However, the outcomes we can achieve are fundamentally limited if we work within the confines of the system. If we become aware that much of the epidemic results from inequalities against Black people that are baked into the institutions of government, then we have to consider that perhaps we can only change the current state of affairs by challenging those very institutions. By pushing against them with radical demands, such as defunding police departments, we can pressure these institutions to reflect on how their policies can be reformed.
Here, the sufficiency of our actions becomes relevant. Recently, the city of Somerville, MA declared systemic racism as a public health emergency, and is using this position to instigate reform in its police department. Nationwide calls to defund police departments come from the realization that many police forces receive much larger slices of city budgets than other deserving departments. Unless we demand systemic change – take a hard look at what is wrong in our society, protest the fundamental inequalities in these institutions, and deliberately call out these injustices to local officials – these existing institutions will continue that actively perpetuate racism against the Black community. Only when they are forced to change will the conditions of many individual people’s lives follow .Our actions will not be sufficient unless we act against the systemic component of racism in American society.
3. Come to terms with the stakes of the moment
Many of us have to ask: what happens if we don’t make this systemic change? We can already see history repeating itself from these recent events. We have to recognize that it is not enough to act based on what is necessary and ignore checking if it is sufficient. If we are serious about challenging the status quo, if we are serious about seeing change in this country, then we have to step it up. To further emphasize this point, I quote a recent editorial published by Cell, an academic journal:
“But it is this epidemic of denial of the integral role that each and every member of our society plays in supporting the status quo by failing to actively fight it that has allowed overt and systemic racism to flourish, crippling the lives and livelihoods of Black Americans, including Black scientists.”
Despite having been marginalized in my life as a result of both my race and gender, I will never fully comprehend what it means to be a Black person in America. Yet, I can no longer accept the status quo in this country. I am writing about the epidemic as I see it because if there is a chance that my voice will instigate some change, I will take it. Because I want to maximize the probability that these events we just witnessed stop repeating themselves and that systemic racism can be exorcised from the fabric of American society. As long as there is still hope for America, no effort is wasted. Each effort is necessary, and compounded we may find that they we can achieve sufficiency.
