Oppression and Privilege

The negative impact and consequences that systemic racism wields on the human condition can be seen in obvious ways. One only has to look around them and see the gross disparities when it comes to educational achievement, employment, quality of housing, and other living conditions among white Americans and other minorities, especially blacks.

What is often less obvious are the other insidious and often unspoken acute and chronic health consequences that systemic racism breeds among racial minorities and ethnicities.

When I look at the behavior of Congress during this last year — failure to pass the American Jobs Bill, now failure of the Super Committee to arrive at much-needed cuts in the federal budget — voters should take a lesson from Ole’ Saint Nick as he prepares his sleigh with presents to be delivered for Christmas. Members of Congress certainly have not been “good for goodness sake.”