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It's true that part of it is just America treats all its poor people so terribly. Legolas Send a noteboard - 30/06/2020 09:35:40 PM

If you start comparing living conditions for minorities in the EU vs America, it's obvious that the former scores far better when it comes to health care or criminal justice - but that goes for poor white people as well. While the American criminal justice system is even worse for minorities, it's plenty shitty enough for poor white people - see also Mook's article and the discussion below.

Same with health care. Europeans are baffled whenever they see Americans who seem to think they have the best health care in the world - because we look at the statistics and the average health outcomes, e.g. the mortality rate for mothers giving birth, which are significantly worse than ours, despite the US being significantly wealthier and spending a significantly larger share of that greater wealth on health care. But of course, if those Americans entirely ignore the health of people who don't have a good job with health insurance benefits and can't pay the staggering costs out of their own pocket, they may well say that their health care system is better - for those who can afford it.

Definitely, EU countries also struggle with structural racism, with inequalities in education and job opportunities, and so on. My own country scores particularly badly in terms of the education achievement gap between whites and minorities. But I do want to add one point there: those minorities that we're talking about in the European context are, to a very large extent, guest workers and their families who arrived starting from the 1960s. Or people from the former colonies, who started to arrive around the same time, after those colonies gained their independence. It's not really comparable to the position of Black Americans.

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Indians are being held up as a model minority. That's not helping the Black Lives Matter movement - 29/06/2020 06:59:25 PM 995 Views
As part of the "model" minority - 29/06/2020 08:18:17 PM 500 Views
How have you failed? - 29/06/2020 10:31:17 PM 492 Views
I still don't do enough. Silence and inaction are failure enough - 30/06/2020 03:29:29 AM 482 Views
I have to be honest, the privilege argument is dubious. - 30/06/2020 04:19:42 AM 528 Views
Re: I have to be honest, the privilege argument is dubious. - 30/06/2020 05:39:30 AM 617 Views
Here you go, you can also look up the raw census data - 30/06/2020 01:40:24 PM 531 Views
Some thoughts... - 30/06/2020 06:19:28 AM 459 Views
Re: Some thoughts... - 30/06/2020 02:08:10 PM 480 Views
I'm actually *very* curious of this myself.... - 30/06/2020 04:54:48 PM 457 Views
Maybe Canada. *NM* - 30/06/2020 06:57:01 PM 220 Views
Canada seems to have the same racial income gap issues as the US - 30/06/2020 07:29:21 PM 624 Views
It's true that part of it is just America treats all its poor people so terribly. - 30/06/2020 09:35:40 PM 443 Views
Yeah I wouldn't write off Europe - 30/06/2020 11:49:32 PM 507 Views
here is an interesting article on mass incarceration in the USA. - 30/06/2020 02:30:09 PM 553 Views
Wow, good stuff, thanks for posting! *NM* - 30/06/2020 02:57:08 PM 225 Views
Interesting read indeed. - 30/06/2020 08:29:53 PM 479 Views
Not just a rich person - 30/06/2020 08:51:44 PM 452 Views
I have three anecdatas - 30/06/2020 09:23:10 PM 488 Views
Okay... this is just like old times, when I'd often have no idea what you were getting at. - 30/06/2020 09:49:03 PM 467 Views
Old timez - 30/06/2020 10:02:10 PM 469 Views
The Jury Trial - 30/06/2020 11:51:54 PM 465 Views
It’s easy to understand why. - 01/07/2020 12:09:44 AM 430 Views
There's more - 01/07/2020 12:55:57 AM 455 Views
I agree - 01/07/2020 02:04:50 AM 480 Views
Re: I agree - 01/07/2020 02:09:14 AM 517 Views
Guilt doesn't have much to do with it... - 01/07/2020 03:51:05 AM 451 Views
Yes, I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. - 01/07/2020 03:52:15 AM 441 Views
Oh god yes, I've heard of several instances of that - 01/07/2020 03:49:42 AM 456 Views
So you see that compassionate conservatives can exist? We aren’t mythical creatures? *NM* - 01/07/2020 03:55:45 AM 220 Views
I sincerely hope you aren't serious about this... - 01/07/2020 04:01:57 AM 489 Views
It was a little tongue in cheek - 01/07/2020 04:20:08 AM 470 Views
Re: It was a little tongue in cheek - 01/07/2020 06:23:20 AM 455 Views
a couple of points - 01/07/2020 07:42:32 PM 465 Views
What do you know about Biden's health that we don't know? *NM* - 01/07/2020 08:53:45 PM 236 Views
Re: a couple of points - 01/07/2020 10:05:08 PM 467 Views
Mook - Fionwe is a radical. You are not. - 01/07/2020 04:33:45 PM 480 Views
yes I suppose it was a foolish comment. - 01/07/2020 05:44:05 PM 467 Views
I'm honestly not sure if.you even meant it... - 01/07/2020 07:38:26 PM 451 Views
I kind of did when I wrote it, lame as it sounds now. - 01/07/2020 07:51:21 PM 430 Views
We've found plenty of common ground - 01/07/2020 10:06:19 PM 456 Views
Part of real common ground, real synchronization - 01/07/2020 11:43:49 PM 428 Views
It amuses me... - 01/07/2020 07:03:43 PM 464 Views
You're welcome. Come again. XOXO - 01/07/2020 07:05:11 PM 447 Views
Aww - 01/07/2020 07:36:55 PM 440 Views
Sweetie, we can always zhuzz it up! First we need some more glitter. - 01/07/2020 07:39:42 PM 414 Views
Waterloo seems the most appropriate for the moment... - 01/07/2020 10:01:33 PM 468 Views
No, darling. We're playing Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - 02/07/2020 05:25:07 PM 445 Views
On drug based incarcerations... - 01/07/2020 12:01:40 AM 421 Views
"most on nonviolent drug charges" - 30/06/2020 09:25:09 PM 460 Views
This White/Non-White Binary choice is simplistic. And leaves no room for nuance. - 01/07/2020 03:46:17 PM 463 Views
Absolutely right, I read an interesting article on this a while ago. - 01/07/2020 10:58:59 PM 474 Views
You have a binary choice... - 02/07/2020 12:10:49 AM 416 Views
Found the article (or at least something similar). - 01/07/2020 11:04:53 PM 451 Views

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