Race and Justice

Has anyone ever told you that racism is no longer a major problem in America ; that it's still around in some rare, isolated cases but is more the exception than the rule , etc. etc.?
That institutionalized racism is either in serious decline or dead altogether?

Did that person provide numerous examples from their own personal experience of how purple people and orange people and striped folk are all getting along together?

Perhaps they even mentioned that they have really good friends who are purple or orange, as in :
" some of my best friends are purple", although their own exposition is unlikely to be so succinct.
Sure, they admit, some people, somewhere are active and overt racists, but they themselves are not, nor are most of the people that they know.

Did they add, quite unnecessarily , that they are white?

No shit.

Only a white person would say that race isn't a major issue in the U.S.

I don't say that as a condemnation- the people who say such things are usually intelligent and compassionate individuals who have made a conscientious attempt to avoid racist actions and thoughts on a personal level. That is a good thing and is to be encouraged, but it seems that the effort involved sometimes makes it easy to overlook the fact that race is still a major factor in all parts of our society.

Let me attempt to better explain this by putting it in terms that I can understand. For example:

I used to drink a lot. I have managed to remove alcohol from my life and as a result I don't go many places where I see liqour.
I seldom encounter drunk people.
I avoid bars and clubs, I don't attend AA meetings and I don't go to many parties, so to me it appears that alcoholism is a dead issue, something to be discussed in the past tense- "I used to drink a lot".

Yesterday I saw an old drinking buddy at the local market. He was stinking drunk at noon. Stinking of beer sweat, unwashed feet and human urine. He's lost weight and his eyes are markedly jaundiced.
It broke my heart to see this.

It also jarred me back to reality.
Just because I have been lucky enough to defeat my demons doesn't mean that those demons are dead.
It doesn't mean they don't still poison and destroy people I know and love.
The demons live on, and anything that can hurt someone I love can also hurt me. If I choose to ignore this, I do so at my own peril.

(Substitute racism for drinking and you get the idea)

Racism is one motherfuck of a demon. I applaud every tiny step taken in the struggle against this monster-on every level- but make no mistake; racism is alive and well in America, it
permeates our social fabric, it's held in place by our institutions, our schools, and churches*, our entertainments, even our prisons.
Especially our prisons.

Our justice system favors the white- and the wealthy. If this isn't common knowledge, it should be.
If Justice is unbalanced regarding race , how can racism be waning?

I once faced sentencing in Federal Court. My lawyer said, " If you were black, you'd be looking at five to fifteen, but you'll be OK."
I got eighteen months- probation.

Did I stand up and make a speech about the inequity of our correctional system?
I did not.
I promised I'd be good, thanked the Judge, apologised to the State, paid my attorney, exhaled deeply and went home.

I used race to my advantage in order to receive a lesser sentence. I did this knowingly and deliberately and it worked.
This was undoubtably a racist action, but does it make me a racist?
I don't know. I hope not, but I also realize that if I were in the same situation again, I would do it exactly the same way- play the game and stay out of prison.

Would you?

*(To be fair , most churches do not advocate racism , but all prisons do)