It turns out not many Juneau residents are interested in trying to decipher whether unconscious racism secretly taints various proposed ordinances or policies in Alaska’s capital city.
On Dec. 15, the Juneau Assembly was expected to name someone to sit on its seven-member “Systemic Racism Review Committee.” Only one person applied to fill the vacant seat, however, which led the city council to postpone filling the slot until at least February and possibly later.
Organized earlier this year, committee members serve three-year terms in which they are expected to highlight perceived racism and inequalities they feel might be embedded in proposed legislation before the Juneau Assembly.
The Assembly approved the committee in August 2020, to fight so-called “systemic racism.”
The seven-member committee reads over proposed legislation and offers opinions to the Assembly before it takes action or holds public hearings, although this process can be overridden if the Assembly deems it necessary due to time constraints.
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In approving the committee, the Assembly admitted that systemic racism is often “covert” and defining it would be a tricky endeavor. According to an Oct. 25 report from KTOO.org, the committee hadn’t been able to find even a single instance of systemic racism in 2021.
Critics of systemic racism theory argue that it is intentionally ill defined and vague in order to undermine ideas, people and legislation without identifying actual objective instances of racism. In essence, one can be guilty of promoting systemic racism without even knowing it. The idea is often used as a political tool by leftist organizations to undermine certain groups, individuals, laws or policies they disagree with.
11 Comments
Since when do city assemblies care what the majority of the population wants?
Only one person applied to fill the vacant seat, however, which led the city council to postpone filling the slot until at least February and possibly later.
What this person wasn’t Woke enough, maybe they we white too. Stop the madness
If you pick at a scab long enough you will open the wound and risk infection. This unnatural and purposely driven focus on race is tearing our country apart.
Merely exposing the idiots. I am glad they are self identifying. Let’s you know your enemy, Sun Tzu, Art of War.
Our assembly is like a bunch of kids in a candy store that found a 50 dollar bill on the sidewalk…have been blowing money left and right and felt so woke that they blew 50 grand on this because Rorie Watt and former Assemblyman Rob Edwardson told them it was needed. They were so out of touch when they approved this waste of money that they accused our Chief of Police (an Alaskan native and great person) of systemic racism by JPD! Wish we would just recall them and start over again with some fiscally savvy normal people. They are embarrassing.
Those that seek to distract and deceive always tend to create problems where none exist. It’s a time honored tactic.
If a bureaucrat attempts to impose racist policies while serving in borough government, that is not systemic racism; rather, it is racism of an individual. On the other hand, systemic racism, by definition, would be racist provisions embedded within laws or regulations of city government. Such embedded provisions would give advantages to particular races. Perhaps you can think of a few. An example would be legacy covenants on land titles that would restrict ownership to certain racial groups; however, these have been deemed unenforceable under federal law for over 60-years. One of the few examples of systemic racism still in existence is affirmative action-type provisions. Consider the 30-point deduct universities apply to SAT test scores of applicants of Asian heritage.
yo man slow your roll , systematic racism has nothing to do with racial injustice without a favorable political outcome. are you crazy?….you must be a WHITE Supremacist,..lol, jk nice point
I imagine that most of the people answering this are white. What about the minority populations of AK? You don’t think there is systematic racism against the Native Alaskans. Obviously there is.
Jon, anything “obvious” should be easy to show. Please cite an example of a law or regulation (which is how “systemic” is defined) that discriminates against Native Alaskans. If you know of one we certainly need to rectify it.
Wayne Douglas Coogan,
Sir, see the my comment above for clarification if there is any doubt in your mind as to the motive of borough rats like our friend Mr. Watt in creation of such divisive quasi-governmental bodies. I submit that this exercise is an attempt to obfuscate while appearing to be transparent. Commissions like this are merely a way of rewarding your friends and are especially useful to the managers of your City in keeping Elected Officials and everyone else distracted with such nonsense or busy work allowing them to run the City as they see fit, recall the Problem Bear Commission some decades back.
I note that Juneau is digging deep to Ferret out Racism while at the same time allowing old rat infested Mt. Stinko in the lovely Lemon Creek Valley to grow in an unprecedented fashion. The stench is revolting to those of us who once called Juneau home on our visits back. Juneau has led Alaska in several commendable areas, Waste disposal however is perhaps where Juneau sucks the most!
Rorie Watt, my bout with Covid-19 has greatly reduced my olfactory senses, doubtless this will help me enjoy my next visit to our Beautiful Capitol City. There it is, a silver lining!