"Systemic racism"

 Both Biden and Harris have used that term in speeches.  I think that was a mistake; I don’t believe most people will understand what it means.

So here is an example of systemic racism.  (Institutional or structural racism are similar terms.)

The Hortons live in Jacksonville, Florida, in a nice neighborhood where homes sell from $350,000 to $550,000.  They decided to take advantage of the low rates for a re-fi and had their house appraised.  The appraisal came in at $330,000, which their own bank thought was low.  The bank ordered a second appraisal.

Ms. Horton, an attorney who happens to be black, was suspicious.  She took down family photos and substituted a series of oil paintings of her husband, who is white, and his grandparents.  She took the Toni Morrison and Zora Neale Hurston books off the shelves.  She put up Christmas cards from white friends.  On the day of the appraisal she and the couple’s six-year-old son went shopping, and her husband talked to the appraiser.  The new appraised value was $465,000.

Do you think the first appraiser was a bigot?  Racially prejudiced?  I doubt it.  But he or she entered that house with certain preconceptions, certain predispositions, certain expectations, all probably subconscious.  And that, my friends, is systemic/institutional/structural racism.

For a detailed account of how appraisals for black and white homeowners can differ, see Debra Kamin, “An Appraisal that ‘Kind of Broke’ One Homeowner,”  New York Times, (Aug. 29, 2020), pp. B1, B4.