To solve a problem, you must understand its roots. Racism in the United State is based on the concept of white supremacy. White supremacy is a way for one group to have power over another using laws. During slavery, blacks were not allowed to be educated, could not own land, were bought and sold and their families were broken up. During Jim Crow, there were laws segregating hotels and lunch counters, obstructing the right to vote by blacks, etc. This made blacks poor in a capitalist society.
The key is that one group, white men, had power over another group, blacks. What was the need for this power? Was it a Christian religious belief that blacks are inferior? Was it that white men wanted cheap slave, or desperate labor, to increase their profits?
We must remember that these laws were artificial, created by white men to have power over others. White men, of which I am one, also created laws to give them power over immigrants, gays, women and others to ensure that they maintained power.
This is really what the 2020 elections are about. It is about power. Should power remain almost exclusively in the hands of rich white men?
Mark Rothacher, Salt Lake City