One of the reasons I spend time replying to Comrade Morlock is that I think he has a different agenda from most people who collect these kinds of statistics. Most of these people are devout capitalists, and Morlock is a socialist. They want to prove that black people really didn't have it any worse than anyone else, so therefore their condition is their fault, and they should not ask for reparations, affirmative action etc. I think what Morlock is doing is trying to get people to recognize that all poor people are being equally mistreated by their common enemy the rich capitalists, and so we should ask for more opportunities and support for all poor people, not just black people. The Republicans have effectively used anger about identiy politics to divide poor whites and poor Blacks, and Morlock thinks that if we stop talking about race, poor people of all races will unite against their common rich enemy.
I think this is a strategy which clearly doesn't work. People just assume that he is trying to say Black people don't need any actions taken to achieve equity, and see him as essentially identical to the devout capitalists I mention above. I've tried to talk him into acknowledging more frequently and in greater detail that racism is a real problem, because that is the only way he is going to get the kind of solidarity he wants.
Sometimes he listens to me. This article both critiques certain claims about racism, and points out the ways in which racism still exists. I'm not saying I agree with everything he writes here. But I am saying that this kind of discrimination and reinterpretation of racism is more effective than simple dismissing it as a factor.
