I don’t know what it is lately but I am feeling “some type of way” about racial injustice. I felt the seed take root in 2008 during a Southwest Airlines trip from Florida after enjoying a Bahamas vacation with my then seven years old son when I was profiled as low class by a woman who appeared to be white. She did not want me to sit by her because she said the seat was designated for 1st class travelers. Now I know and everyone knows that Southwest Airlines does not have “class seating” so I politely called the stewardess over to engage in a conversation with the woman and I about Southwest Airlines policies. The conversation was held loud enough for other travelers to hear. I wanted to make sure I was not mistaken about airline policies and also I wanted to create a “teachable moment” for the woman as well. After the stewardess agreed with my understanding of policy, I seated myself behind the woman. I have to admit I was disturbed for the full duration of the trip back to Houston. The man beside me who appeared to be white comforted me by making simple yet supportive comments of his own offense to the encounter. He reminded me that not everyone who may identify of a different race/ethnicity engages in such blatant race related prejudice. His brief comments were soothing, but the offense was so cutting that I remained in deep thought for the full extent of the air travel home. The irony is that at the time I was struggling with my position around Affirmative Action. I was slowly but surely buying into the illusion that America was post social injustice on race and Affirmative Action practices were no longer needed. It took this one incident to awaken me from my comfortable place of denial. I became more attuned and alert to the social world around me and discovered an alarming reality. I realized from such increased awareness that covert racism which is embedded in informal policies and procedures and the interpretation and application of well intending formal policies and procedures is where racial injustice now creeps its ugly head. The ensuing discrimination from covert racism has been lashing out unnoticed within the walls of government agencies ordained to enforce laws, policies, and statutes and given the blessings, support, and power by lawmakers and the Americans people. When I think about it, it was the mystery behind the KKK that gave them their power and ability to do harm. The mystery of the white cloak and covered faces during lynching boosted the KKK’s threat and provoked insurmountable fear. Now the embedding of racism in institutions of government’s application of laws, policies and statutes brings a viscous and profound threat and power to do harm to “a people”. The use of the nobility and authority of government institutions to oppress and discriminate against “a people” sits at the heart of institutionalized racism. The school to prison pipeline where African American students are more harshly punished than other races for the same offense through enforcement of policies is evidence. The plea dealing of court appointed attorneys and wrongful conviction practices of prosecutors of African Americans flows through the blood of it. In the era of data driven strategies and evidence based outcome oriented fiscal responsibility, we have trampled on disproportionality which simply put is “evidence based discrimination”. Disproportionality is the over representation and disparate treatment of minorities in various social systems. Data is showing that racial injustice is the evidence based outcome of most social systems of government. This makes Affirmative Action not only most appropriate for its time but even ahead of it. In a data driven world, we now need legislation similar to Affirmative Action more than ever. We need racially responsive legislative action enforced in all systems of government to address institutionalized racism affecting vulnerable people. The seed of my “feeling some type of way” about racial injustice has grown to a giant eye sore of grave offense. Disproportionality is the civil rights issue of our era. It is more than a social system operations issue that requires routine monitoring and technical assistance to address. It is an issue of civil rights violation and unlawful practices of government. It should be handled with more racially responsive legislative action targeting social systems in which disproportionality exists. Today, blatant racist remarks and discrimination are handled with a sharp and swift sword of vengeance which gives the illusion that we are post legislation like Affirmative Action; however, covert racism which is now institutionalized in the noblest systems of government is unlawfully harming “a people”. I ask you to call for action! We need more racially responsive legislation to combat the civil rights violations of institutions of government.

Vanesia R. Johnson

Citizens Advocating for Social Equity (C.A.S.E.)