I think you started framing the problem accurately, but then diverged into including other spurious issues. Your initial statement was spot on:
"Those who have the most tend to want to keep things the same, keep things polite, and ignore those who don't have what they have."
Those "haves" actively work to keep what they have and put up road blocks to keep out the "have nots." No problem with that part of your claim. However, then you wavered into a political agenda.
It starts with the schools. Those that have good schools, do not want to seem them compromised. Even those who claim to want to improve schools for the less advantage have not been very helpful. They even fight some of the attempts of improvement, kowtowing to local politics and ideologies. "No Child Left Behind" only managed to bring down those districts that needed the most help. Many point the finger at Big Business and wealthy businessmen, but this is not the problem. Most businesses recognize your "brilliant" people and want them on their team. Those businesses that are truly "colorblind" have been the more successful. That is your "lost potential." Politicians, on the other hand, cannot see this. They focus on their particular problem and throw money at it, but refuse to implement anything that would truly alleviate the problem. They also refuse to accept any information that the situations has improved. If the problem goes away, they lose their agenda and their voters. As long as they can frame the problem applicably and find an appropriate scapegoat (the "other" guy), they maintain their control.
You are fighting last century's problems, like the generals always fighting the previous war. Yes, I know they are not completely alleviated, and probably never will (at least not in this world). However, if you pull focus away from the real issue(s), you join those who you claim to be are part of the problem.
This fight is absolutely time appropriate.
It isn't last century's problem, it is ongoing and persistent for at least two or three centuries. It is so entrenched in the US that those living there cant see it. I don't say that to be mean or imply that people who live in the US are stupid, I say it because it is normal there.
Australia isn't much better and the only reason it screams at me is because I was brought up in New Zealand where racism is in your face and has a strong, healthy, ongoing debate. Yet while living there I thought the ongoing public debate and attempts to improve the situation were extreme.
But then I move to Australia and find the debate missing, and the extremes of racism are far worse. And in the US, it is the same.
Yes, people talk about it, but most people cant see the systemic racism that is in place, and White people are the most blind to it. It isn't the fault of White people, they grew up not knowing any differently. But if true change is to happen, white people need to learn how fucked up systemic racism is..... yet it is very difficult to open the eyes to what it is let alone make the required changes.
My short attempt to explain it might help..... most of what you said reflects the blindness I mention.
Systemic racism is when a group of people (white people in this case) gain an advantage simply because they are white. This advantage is with them all the time, they don't have a choice about whether they have it or not, and the advantage is there all the time.
This essentially means that if you have a very poor white person and a very poor non-white person, then the poor white person has advantage over the others.
White people have more likelihood of getting a job over others, more likely to get into an educational facility, get a loan, get promoted, succeed in politics, get served in a shop, less likely to be arrested, charged, and jailed.... and these advantages are purely based on skin color.
This is what systemic racism is.
And those who have the advantage typically cant see it because they don't have to deal with it.
White people will continually defend how unbiased they are on a personal level, yet the evidence is clear that there is bias..... I see this as everyone thinks they are a better driver than most in spite of most people being average.... but I rarely meet anyone who thinks they are average.
It isn't the fault of the white person for not seeing it, but if we do see it, we need to do our level best to open the eyes of other white people.
When I read the story of Lefty, which is a good story of people working hard etc etc, and it is interesting, it also highlights that he doesn't understand systemic racism.
If his family had been black, they would have had to work two or three times more to achieve the same result they got as white people because society is against non white people. It wasn't that long ago (almost certainly with the lifetime of LEfty and his family story) when black people in the US were segregated. That is a massive disadvantage, and yet it is ignored when this comes up. Those things has effects on a multi generational timeframe.
So yeah, this is a problem that is very much current, and it is very much unresolved and worsening, and the most scary part of it all is the problem isn't with non-whites, it is with white people who are blind to the problem. We are the ones who need to change, adapt of lift our game. Yet we defend the current structures and scratch our collective heads about what they are complaining about or undermine their issues by saying it was soooo last century.
