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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 1168 Views
As part of the "model" minority - 29/06/2020 08:18:17 PM 682 Views
How have you failed? - 29/06/2020 10:31:17 PM 667 Views
I still don't do enough. Silence and inaction are failure enough - 30/06/2020 03:29:29 AM 656 Views
I have to be honest, the privilege argument is dubious. - 30/06/2020 04:19:42 AM 768 Views
Re: I have to be honest, the privilege argument is dubious. - 30/06/2020 05:39:30 AM 785 Views
Here you go, you can also look up the raw census data - 30/06/2020 01:40:24 PM 720 Views
Some thoughts... - 30/06/2020 06:19:28 AM 644 Views
Re: Some thoughts... - 30/06/2020 02:08:10 PM 655 Views
I'm actually *very* curious of this myself.... - 30/06/2020 04:54:48 PM 625 Views
Maybe Canada. *NM* - 30/06/2020 06:57:01 PM 315 Views
Canada seems to have the same racial income gap issues as the US - 30/06/2020 07:29:21 PM 823 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 638 Views
Yeah I wouldn't write off Europe - 30/06/2020 11:49:32 PM 702 Views
here is an interesting article on mass incarceration in the USA. - 30/06/2020 02:30:09 PM 721 Views
Wow, good stuff, thanks for posting! *NM* - 30/06/2020 02:57:08 PM 317 Views
Interesting read indeed. - 30/06/2020 08:29:53 PM 660 Views
Not just a rich person - 30/06/2020 08:51:44 PM 617 Views
I have three anecdatas - 30/06/2020 09:23:10 PM 673 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 629 Views
Old timez - 30/06/2020 10:02:10 PM 639 Views
The Jury Trial - 30/06/2020 11:51:54 PM 642 Views
It’s easy to understand why. - 01/07/2020 12:09:44 AM 603 Views
There's more - 01/07/2020 12:55:57 AM 634 Views
I agree - 01/07/2020 02:04:50 AM 657 Views
Re: I agree - 01/07/2020 02:09:14 AM 683 Views
Guilt doesn't have much to do with it... - 01/07/2020 03:51:05 AM 634 Views
Yes, I’m sure that has a lot to do with it. - 01/07/2020 03:52:15 AM 623 Views
Oh god yes, I've heard of several instances of that - 01/07/2020 03:49:42 AM 647 Views
So you see that compassionate conservatives can exist? We aren’t mythical creatures? *NM* - 01/07/2020 03:55:45 AM 308 Views
I sincerely hope you aren't serious about this... - 01/07/2020 04:01:57 AM 673 Views
It was a little tongue in cheek - 01/07/2020 04:20:08 AM 664 Views
Re: It was a little tongue in cheek - 01/07/2020 06:23:20 AM 636 Views
a couple of points - 01/07/2020 07:42:32 PM 657 Views
What do you know about Biden's health that we don't know? *NM* - 01/07/2020 08:53:45 PM 338 Views
Re: a couple of points - 01/07/2020 10:05:08 PM 638 Views
Mook - Fionwe is a radical. You are not. - 01/07/2020 04:33:45 PM 652 Views
yes I suppose it was a foolish comment. - 01/07/2020 05:44:05 PM 637 Views
I'm honestly not sure if.you even meant it... - 01/07/2020 07:38:26 PM 637 Views
I kind of did when I wrote it, lame as it sounds now. - 01/07/2020 07:51:21 PM 609 Views
We've found plenty of common ground - 01/07/2020 10:06:19 PM 686 Views
Part of real common ground, real synchronization - 01/07/2020 11:43:49 PM 608 Views
It amuses me... - 01/07/2020 07:03:43 PM 643 Views
You're welcome. Come again. XOXO - 01/07/2020 07:05:11 PM 609 Views
Aww - 01/07/2020 07:36:55 PM 624 Views
Sweetie, we can always zhuzz it up! First we need some more glitter. - 01/07/2020 07:39:42 PM 590 Views
Waterloo seems the most appropriate for the moment... - 01/07/2020 10:01:33 PM 649 Views
No, darling. We're playing Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - 02/07/2020 05:25:07 PM 620 Views
On drug based incarcerations... - 01/07/2020 12:01:40 AM 599 Views
"most on nonviolent drug charges" - 30/06/2020 09:25:09 PM 639 Views
This White/Non-White Binary choice is simplistic. And leaves no room for nuance. - 01/07/2020 03:46:17 PM 643 Views
Absolutely right, I read an interesting article on this a while ago. - 01/07/2020 10:58:59 PM 677 Views
You have a binary choice... - 02/07/2020 12:10:49 AM 601 Views
Found the article (or at least something similar). - 01/07/2020 11:04:53 PM 626 Views

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