Study - Systemic Racism To Blame For Everything, Even When It Is Not

Even when systemic racism can't be shown to actually exist, it is easy to assign blame to it as an un-falsifiable theory.

One of the great things for progressives about the cant of systemic racism is it deprives Blacks, Browns, what have you, of agency.  Clearly if systemic racism is to blame, it can't be their fault, and AWFLs (Angry Woke Female Liberals) must then come in and save them from themselves while dealing with self-loathing and hating on western civilization.

Systemic racism can be blamed for everything, even when the data shows there are actual and real explanations not linked to the mythical and unproven theory of systemic racism.

Take Covid for example.

The Detroit News: Systemic racism drove higher COVID-19 mortality for Black people study says

Black people are more likely to die of COVID-19 than their White counterparts due to systemic racism, according to a Wayne State University study published in April.

. . .

They found that people were more likely to die from COVID-19 if they lived in environments with high rates of poverty, unemployment and other social determinants of health that often are caused by systemic racism, Chopra said. 

Hmm, sounds bad. But wait, there's more:

The study found no relationship between COVID-19 mortality and the color of a person's skin, Chopra noted. What mattered were the conditions in which they lived. 

Wait a sec, they just said systemic racism is to blame, but then say there is no correlation found between mortality and race.  Is there systemic racism to blame here or not?

"There was no relation between COVID-19 mortality and race," she said. "We found that the Black population in large urban centers — these populations are not inherently at greater risk for higher mortality, but our results supported the possibility that it is the social/economic vulnerability.

So again, the study says it is not race but living in urban centers and making certain lifestyle choices that can be unhealthy? Who knew?

“Systemic racism is implicated because we feel it shapes the circumstances and policies that are responsible for the inequitable distribution of resources across communities of color,” Chopra said.   

Ah, so this determination is based on feelings, not data.  If you assign people no agency, systemic racism must be to blame.  Did they study Blacks and other minorities outside of urban centers for mortality?  Was there any difference form whites in the same areas that would demonstrate systemic racism?  Of course they did not.  

Heck did they compare mortality between comparable poor urban whites and blacks in the study - no, reading the study it shows they did not.   They solely looked at a majority-minority area for their study.

The study actually finds that people in crowded environments, having low socio-economic status and using public transportation make one more likely to be vulnerable to Covid.  The racial aspect is tacked on as they only looked at a poor urban area in Detroit with a 90% Black population and did not control or compare to a similar socio-economic area that is predominantly white. 

The study at most shows that if you are poor, have comorbidities, live in crowded housing, and take public transport, you are more likely to die of (or with) Covid than if you are none of these things. 

In short, the study's conclusion as to systemic racism is abject junk science, but it does get headlines.