Ending Institutional Racism

One of the demands we have seen from protestors over the last few weeks is that institutional racism must end.

NAACP President Derrick Johnson recently said this on that subject,

"We are done dying from all of the structural racial institutions that impose a heightened level of burden on African Americans."

This is a worthy goal so let's assess some of the major institutions in our society to better understand any patterns and structures therein that might be useful in improving any systemic issues. To that end it is most important to consider the individuals in control of these institutions as it is the people within the organization who determine what the institution stands for and believes. 

If institutional racism is a problem then isn't the real problem the people who are leading these institutions?

Who are the people in charge of these institutions? What are the attitudes and views of the people who make up these institutions?

The institution most under attack right now is law enforcement. Of course, police departments operate under the jurisdiction of local governments who are elected by the people.

Most of the protests and violence have been taking place in various large cities around the country of which almost all are governed by Democrat mayors.

This chart provides a graphic view of the total control that Democrats have over the major cities most affected by the urban strife. Democrats are in yellow.

The source of all the current protests stemmed from actions of four offices of the Minneapolis Police Department which ultimately is accountable to a Mayor who is a Democrat and a city council which is comprised of 13 members (12 Democrats (DFL), 1 Green Party).

The police chief of the Minneapolis police department is currently an African American. The prior police chief was a gay woman.

The police chiefs in most major cities in the United States are African Americans such as Chicago (David Brown), Philadelphia (Danielle Outlaw), Detroit (James Craig), Seattle (Carmen Best), Dallas (Renee Hall), St. Louis (John Hayden Jr.), San Francisco (William Scott), Baltimore (Michael Harrison), New Orleans (Shaun Ferguson), Cleveland (Calvin Williams) and Cincinnati (Eliot Issac).

Houston, Orlando and Miami have police chiefs who are Hispanic.

Institutional racism is a problem in Minneapolis and most other large cities? They are  exclusively run by Democrats. This has also been the case in most major cities for at least 50 years.

Police departments in these cities today are overwhelmingly led by chiefs who are African American or Hispanic.

How long does it take to end institutional racism?

It is no different with the federal government bureaucracy. The largest number of federal government employees are in the Washington, D.C. area. As I have pointed out before, Donald Trump received just 4% of the vote in the District of Columbia in 2016. In the four county area surrounding D.C., Trump did not receive more than 30% of the vote in any of these counties.

Further, 95% of all political contributions in the 2016 Presidential election from federal employees went to Hillary Clinton.

Credit: National Review

Who are the people who make up the federal bureaucracy? What are their political views?

Let's look at another important institution---public schools.

A recent survey found that 87% of high school teachers were Democrats.

You can also see the political leanings of public school educators and administrators when you consider the political contributions made by the two largest teachers unions.

Here is the % contributed to Democrats in 2016, 2018 and 2020 (to date).

       

                                                                     2016               2018             2020

American Education Association                 86.5%           91.2%            91.5%

National Federation of Teachers                   99.6%           98.9%            99.2%

If there is institutional racism in our public schools who is responsible?

How about our colleges and universities?

I think most everyone understands there is a liberal bent on college campuses.

However, I don't believe most understand how deep and pervasive that ideology is.

Consider this graphic that shows the results of a 2018 study of university faculty members comparing the number of Democrat faculty members for every Republican in 25 different academic disciplines. 

Even disciplines such as Chemistry and Economics have five Democrats for every Republican faculty member.

In subjects such as Anthropology and Communications, the study could not find any Republican faculty members at all! 

College administrators are just as liberal. Another study found that college administrators who are liberal outnumber conservatives by 12 to 1.

If institutional racism is present at our colleges and universities why is that? Who is running these schools and teaching the students? Might they be responsible for what the institution does?

Labor unions also have a large institutional presence in the United States.

There are about 15 million labor union members in the United States. Almost half of all union members are now public sector employees.

Union membership among private sector employees is only 6.2% of all workers. However, 33.6% of all public sector employees are now unionized.

What are the political leanings of some of the largest private sector union groups?

Here is a chart showing political contributions of industrial unions between Democrats (blue) and Republicans (red). All of the data below is from OpenSecrets.org which tracks political contributions in the United States.

Every election cycle 98%-99% of money from labor unions in the industrial sector has gone to Democrats for the last three decades.

Source; OpenSecrets.org

Democrats are typically getting about 90% of the money from building trades unions.

Source: OpenSecrets.org

Republicans have recently done the best with transportation unions receiving about 25%-30% of all political contributions.

What about public sector unions? I have already showed the political contributions of the major teachers' unions above which almost all go to Democrats.

The same is true for public sector unions generally.

Democrats have received a consistent 90% of the public sector union money for decades.

Source: OpenSecrets.org

Let us not forget the power of public sector police unions in all of this either. Derek Chauvin, who is the police officer charged with the murder of George Floyd, reportedly was named in at least 17 misconduct complaints in his 18 years on the police force. Why was he still on the force? The answer is simple. Police unions often seem to be more concerned with protecting their own than in protecting the public. 

Who is in charge of the unions in this country and which political party do they support?

Media is another influential institution in the United States.

Our Constitution guarantees the rights of a free press. However, I doubt the Founders ever envisioned a day in which it is difficult to distinguish the press from a political party.

Here are the major corporations in the Communications/Electronics sector which includes most of the big media names today and the money that is being donated. It is overwhelmingly going to Democrat/Liberal candidates and causes.

Source: OpenSecrets.org

Those dollars may be coming from the executive leaders of these organizations but what about the reporters, journalists and editors who are reporting the stories and shaping the news?

The last reputable survey (in 2013) on the percentage of journalists who identified as Republicans showed it was a miniscule 7%. 28% said they were Democrats and 50% claimed to be Independents. I am still wondering what the 15% who claimed to be "Other" were? Green Party? Socialists? Libertarians? However, consider that "Other" is twice the number who identify as Republicans. That says something in itself.

In the age of Trump I would suggest that 7% would be a generous number for Republican journalists today.

Many are saying that institutional racism must end. That is a worthy goal. However, how does that occur?

Who controls almost all of the major institutions in the United States?

Local government in big cities?

Police department leadership in urban areas?

Federal government bureaucracy?

Public schools?

Colleges and Universities?

Labor Unions?

Media?

They are all controlled by Democrats and they have been under their control for decades.

Why would anyone who is serious about calling for an end to institutional racism expect any real change by continuing to support people from the party who has been in charge of these institutions for decades?

It defies logic and common sense.

More and more African Americans may be coming to that conclusion as well even though you would never see it on the evening news.

A Rasmussen poll last week found that 41% of likely Black voters approve of President Trump's job performance. Trump's overall job approval was 48% in the same poll.

 

Job approval does not necessarily translate into votes. However, even if only 1/3 of those who approve of Trump's performance vote for him in November it would mean big problems for the Democrats. Trump only got 8% of the Black vote in 2016 and still won.

This is something you also will not see on the evening news. The 48% job approval number for Trump on Friday is actually better than Obama's approval number at the same time in his first term.

Credit: Rasmussen Reports

Donald Trump is by no means a perfect man or a perfect President. He has many vocal detractors. Many are in the institutions referenced above.

However, no one can say Trump is an institutional man. He is about as far removed from that definition as you could find. He was a private citizen until 4 years ago. He had never held political office. He ran businesses that actually produced thousands of jobs for minorities. Is Donald Trump in any way responsible for institutional racism?

Contrast Trump with Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.

Biden was a U.S. Senator for 36 years. He was Vice President for an additional 8 years.

Pelosi has been in the U.S. Congress for almost 34 years. She was Chair of the California Democrat party for 2 years before she ran for Congress. She was a California member on the Democratic National Committee for 20 years.

Schumer was in the New York State General Assembly for 6 years. He was a U.S. Congressman for 18 years. He has been a U.S. Senator for 22 years.

If you want to end institutional racism who would likely have a better chance of actually achieving it?

Considering the facts above, why would anyone think anything is going to change if the Democrats continue to control all of these institutions?