Structural Racism… An Institution

Structural racism is when the hierarchical system is set up to perpetuate the status quo (nearly exclusively majority white male) while being able to deny the use of racially biased criteria for advancement because by shear design those in line for promotion already have the ‘good ole boy’ access to the system starting generations before using racist and/or racially biased rules/laws made when mega corporate entities exploded exponentially swallowing up smaller businesses who could not compete, creating monopolies lending to metropolitan expansion globally, byway of economic development of commerce, change in doing business as concept, evolution of currency along a transitional timeline from historic to modern era capitalism…

The modern era capitalism allows for the advancement of free enterprise by investing into future earnings using credit, a concept previously considered unfounded (historically you paid when the merchandise was received whether through barter or currency). Credit lead to the development of a financial system that allowed for investment into the future performance of a business, it’s potential and allowed for exponential growth and the perpetuation of generational wealth accessible to those privileged across all socioeconomic classes, ‘regular’ people literally rose from rags to riches, creating economic power and greed… All historically inaccessible to black people who were blocked at entry level, unable to advance further along the structural hierarchy due to systemic racism, so could not rise up the corporate latter if not even allowed in the room where the latter is stationed…

Because of this unfair exclusion of black people from equal opportunity to compete and petition for those early employment positions and/or financial opportunities before the unprecedented exponential growth of the market, the wealth gap is exponentially widening generationally in an inverse correlation between these groups creating a very significant financial disparity that is demographical along racial lines, contributing to other collateral damage of many other socioeconomic conditions in this already marginalized racially disparaged population, while being advantageous to the white race, who were able to advance relatively unopposed…

These corporate systems evolved with the rise of the Industrial Age occurring during the setting of the Agrarian Age, marking the end of slavery which was replaced by segregation then Jim Crow and highly discriminatory practices against the civil rights and equal opportunity employment of black people, continuing into modern times and although improved, with less blatancy, is still present today! Corporations benefit by keeping a population of the working poor subset of low wage blue collar employees dependent on them while they squeeze down on payroll and overhead to create more profit for the executives and stockholders even though in actuality it’s the corporation who’s dependent on the low level workers to remain in business, many not realizing their power until the COVID-19 Pandemic exposed their essential value to the productivity of the company, putting many out of business…

We got to the party late, after all of the choice favors were taken and only undesirable crumbs remained, hence the need for affirmative action, an attempt to correct and give restitution for the unfair advantage of the majority due to centuries of capitalizing off of free slave labor, then upon emancipation, further benefiting by exclusion, oppression and discrimination of a marginalized black people, well documented in the national archives and written legislation and all government sanctioned but suppressed and/or omitted from the history book edits written, meant to deceive citizens and the world so as to protect themselves from the court of public opinion…

Black businesses faced racially discriminatory financial laws limiting access during this time, missing out on many of the opportunities others were able to capitalize on with a 250 year advantage during slavery then another 150 year plus head start due to privileged access to priming which excludes via exclusive rather than inclusive invitation required from entry level, leaving no chance for diversity… You can’t get in! And until a conserted effort is made to create an avenue to be more inclusive in the recruitment and hiring process to create a more diverse executive level, it will not happen…

We need those with the power to change the perpetually racially biased vetting system to stand in solidarity to first see, recognize and call it out. This will be required of any enterprise whose executive level jobs are not representative of the people employed at the lower level, passed over whom are equally (if not more highly) qualified to fill those positions but are necessary for the productivity and success of the enterprise, e.g., chief executive officers (CEOs), military officers, government officials, business owners, corporate owners, professional head coaches, sports team owners, (the recent NFL controversy is what sparked this article), etc.

Of course there are legitimate reasons why many companies hire outside executives then bring them in rather than using their own existing ‘home grown’ people. I know at sometimes it is better to bring in new fresh blood with no ties or feeling of obligation to the staff beyond business, to prevent perceived or real internal hostility from competition but you can’t tell me that out of the many existing black professional coaches, business executives, military officers that not one is qualified…🧐

It’s that ceiling again! We need to nurture and create channels for qualified candidates to transition into diverse hires across the nation in all higher level executive positions…