Essay Questions

What is redlining?

Redlining is a term used to describe the distinctly systemic racist practice of denying equal access to financial assistance to minorities. Redlining was an essential instrument in the desire to keep races segregated without coercive force. Neighborhoods which were populated predominantly by black residents would literally be marked on maps with a red line and anyone living within the borders of those red lines would automatically face difficulty obtaining loan, mortgages and investment capital by virtue of being identified as a risky investment. While it was certainly true that many structures contained within these redlined areas had been deemed a danger to the public-at-large because of their structural failing, they were also being unfairly utilized to justify entire neighborhoods surrounding them which were in no way at risk to that danger as being equally unstable and thus considered a far riskier investment than they genuinely were.

What is “race correction” and which U.S. President bears a portion of the shameful responsibility for its continued existence?

Race correction is the term used to describe the practice of weakening clinical diagnostic tools to account for alleged differences between the races. For instance, in taking blood pressure measurements, 3 points are added to the risk score for patients identified as non-black. Spirometers used to measure respiration are still equipped with a built-in racial corrective to account for supposed differences in lung capacity between blacks and whites. None of these corrections are necessary, of course, since there is no scientific proof that the divergences between the races they are intended to account for actually exist. The specific myth that blacks inherently possess a lesser lung capacity than whites can be traced back to a paper written by Thomas Jefferson notably lacking in any supporting anatomic evidence.

Racism clearly exists, but does race, on the basis of this text?

The 1619 Project reveals the comprehensive evil that has plagued America on the basis of racial bias, prejudice, and discrimination. If one read nothing else about the history of American treatment of its citizens, the truth would be impossible to deny: those with lighter pigmentation have conspired to exploit, dehumanize and terrorize those with darker pigmentation. But is that differentiation in the color of skin the only reason? History suggests no: The 1619 Project is a litany of white justifications for white superiority and the genetic inferiority of blacks. There is one enormous problem. The scientific community is unanimous in its appraisal of the situation: genetically speaking, there is no such thing as race. Race is a social construct, a fabrication of something more complex than really does come to down to just one simple difference: the color of one’s skin. Other than that pigmentation, all evidence upon which belief in racial differences and protection of racial purity carries all the authenticity of the evidence which moves some to believe the earth is flat.