Cultural Racism

Jared Kushner, an advisor to President Trump, has been accused of racism after he said the following on Monday, October 26th, in an interview with Fox and Friends: “One thing we’ve seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they’re complaining about… But he can’t want them to be successful more than they want to be successful.” – Quote from Jared Kushner (Links to an external site.)  (Links to an external site.)In the textbook, Tanya Maria Golash-Boza (2018: 82) defines cultural racism as the following: “Cultural Racism: A way of thinking that attributes disadvantaged racial groups’ lack of prosperity to their behavior and culture rather than to structural factors.” – Tanya Maria Golash-Boza.  Culturally racist statements like Mr. Kushner’s are common in our national discourse and we also hear them in our everyday lives from teachers, friends, and family members. For this essay, you will apply what you have learned about the structural causes of racial wealth inequality OR racial income inequality to counter a culturally racist statement.   Begin by imagining yourself explaining to someone who has made a culturally racist statement why they are wrong. Make sure to do the following: Explain why a statement is culturally racist Choose between racial wealth inequality OR racial income inequality Identify the structural causes of your example: Racial gaps in wealth and income can be explained by a number of historical and institutional factors which sociologist call “structural.” Identify at least 3-4 examples of these structural causes and explain each one. Make a closing argument: Succinctly argue why a structural explanation of racial inequality disproves a cultural one.