Why Racial Disparities Do Not Prove Racism

Proving Racism Requires More Than a Statistical Disparity

Hi, my name is Adam Robles, and I wanted to do a video today about how to demonstrate racism, because I've said a lot in a lot of my videos that a statistical disparity does not prove racism, and I wanted to explain what I mean by that, and I'm going to give a hypothetical example here, and we're going to kind of work through this and see how you would demonstrate racism.

Let's say that two families are looking for a loan, right? And one of the families is white, and one of the families is Hispanic, or black, or whatever ethnicity you want to choose. And they're both looking for the same amount of loan, they have the same house that they want to buy, or at least a house that costs the same, whatever.

And they ask this guy for a loan, and the guy says to the white family, sure, you can have the loan. And to the black or Hispanic family, he says, no, you can't have the loan. The question is, is that racist, right?

And you know, I think some people would be tempted to immediately say yes. But I think that the only fair answer that we have is, we don't know, we need more information, right? Because there are a lot of variables that could be at play here besides just the skin color that could be the reason for one family getting a loan and one family not, you know.

So let's just say, okay, let's give you more information, right? So let's say that both families have the same income, right? So both families make $100 ,000 a year or something like that. And still, the white family is getting a loan, the black family isn't.

Is that racist? Well, we have more information now, right? So someone might be tempted to say, oh, yeah, that's definitely racist. But again, I think we need more information because there are still other variables that could be at play.

Because let's say, for example, that the Hispanic or black family had had a loan before that they defaulted on. Well, the person who's getting asked for a loan might be looking at that and saying, hmm, well, if they've defaulted on a loan before, there's a better chance of them doing it again.

So I don't want to lose my money. And so I'm not going to give them a loan. So again, it could be nothing about race. It's just about sort of the details. So let's say that there wasn't anything like that.

So let's say that there was, they make the same amount of money, they had the same credit history. Let's say that those two things are the same. Now is it racist if one family gets a loan and one family doesn't?

When Equal Income and Credit History Still May Not Be Enough

Well, we have more information now. So it's starting to look like it might be, but there still are other variables that could be at play, right? You don't know about the family's debt load. Maybe the black and Hispanic family has like 10 loans already, and the white family has no loans already.

And so the guy's like, well, how are they going to pay for this? Yeah, their salaries are the same, but they also have so much already that they need to pay for. So I'm not so sure about that. Let's say that those are the same too.

Let's say the debt load was the same and everything. See, you can keep going down the list. And so you have to look beyond the skin color, right? You have to look at all of the details that are at play.

And so let's say that every single variable that we can think of is the same. And so the white family has the same, you know, everything basically as the black family. Well, at that point, we might have enough to say, you know, there might be something else going on here.

There might be some kind of a racism going on here, but you see that takes work, right? That takes a lot of work. You have to actually demonstrate that these things are all the same because as soon as there's one variable that is like, well, yeah, it looks like this family might not, you know, be as qualified for this loan as the other.

See, at that point, it's like, well, is it really racism? It could be. See, here's the thing. Let's just say that there was a variable, right? Like let's say that the black family made $90 ,000 and the white family made $100 ,000.

And so the loan guy's like, well, I'm going to give the loan to the guy who the family has $100 ,000. Could he secretly be racist and be like, yeah, well, you know, $90 ,000 a year is still enough to pay back this loan, but I just don't like black people.

Statistical Disparities Do Not Prove Institutional Racism

So I'm not going to give him the loan. That's possible. That is very possible, but you haven't demonstrated it yet. And so, again, like a very bare bones statistical disparity is not enough to demonstrate racism.

It just isn't. You have to do much more work to really demonstrate it. And again, this is just, we don't need proof to demonstrate racism in everyday circumstances. But if you want, you know, someone to do something about it, if you want there to be some kind of a action, social action, you have to demonstrate it.

And so it takes a lot more work than just saying, oh, look at how many Hispanics are doing X versus whites. You know, like that's not enough. That's very lazy. And a lot of this stuff about institutional racism, a lot of the statistics I see that supposedly prove it, they're just very lazy.

It's very base level sort of just, oh, well, there's a difference, so it must be racism. My brother and I were talking about this recently, and we were talking about our friends, right? And so when we lived in Connecticut and when we lived in Maryland, we had a lot of friends of different ethnicities.

You know, we had a lot of white friends. We had a lot of, you know, Indian friends. We had a lot of black friends, Asian, you know, the works. It was like the UN in these places. And then when he moved to Pittsburgh and when I moved to Vermont, basically all of our friends are white, all of them.

And so the question is, did we become racist over that time? Well, no, obviously not. The reality is that most people in Vermont are white. And so it makes sense that when I moved to Vermont, most of my friends are white now.

You know what I mean? Most of the people I hang out with are white. That has nothing to do with my opinions on friends. I didn't have kind of an epiphany where it's like, oh, well, I don't want to have any Muslim friends anymore.

Like, no, it's not like that. It's just because the reality of the situation is that the demographics here are largely white. And so that's how it works. But if you are doing this sort of lazy sort of statistical thing, it was like, well, you know, Adam had, you know, a lot of of ethnic friends in New York, but then he moved to Vermont and he all has white friends.

So he must have become racist. He must have decided he doesn't like these ethnicities anymore. That's the lazy way out. That's the lazy way out. You know, you're not counting for all the variables. I moved to Vermont for completely different reasons than, you know, who my friends were.

Why Surface-Level Statistics Are Not Enough to Prove Systemic Racism

Right. So, again, if you're going to talk about statistical disparities and you're going to try to relate that to institutional racism or systemic racism, you have to do the heavy lifting. You have to do the hard work to demonstrate it can't just be this sort of surface level like, oh, well, there's a difference in statistical disparities.

So that proves the racism. That's just the lazy way out. And so, you know, I'm still waiting. I'm still looking for someone to demonstrate institutional racism to me. And I just haven't seen it. What I see is a lot of lazy thinking.

I see a lot of sort of selective statistical, you know, disparities that don't prove anything at all. And so that's that's my whole point. I hope that was helpful. I hope that kind of clears up why I say these things.

And if you have the proof, if you have the statistical disparities that demonstrate statistical or I'm sorry, institutional racism, please show me. I'm not against the idea out of hand. I would if I'm wrong, I would love to know that I'm wrong, because if I'm being systemically and institutionally oppressed, I would really like to know about it.

Anyway, hope this is helpful. Take care.