Originally Posted by martinguerre

Assuming a nice big happy world, where bunnies and squirrels lives. Bunnies, way back when, did some mean things. They enslaved the squirrels, and came up with a whole bunch of clap trap science, stereotypes, and ideas to help them cope with that. They actually started to believe that squirrels weren't smart, or able to be trusted.

Fastforward a bit. Squirrls and bunnies are now on equal legal footing. (I'm using a hypothetical, in part because i don't believe that statement to be true in the real world.) They can get jobs, buy homes, etc. But none of them are really in the good old bunnies network. On top of that, becuase bunnies are not used to seeing them succeed, they often assume (and sometimes based on those old, self-justifying ideas the bunnies came up) that squirrels just don't succeed. Some squirrels even beleive this, and under social pressure disidentify with school. The pressure of trying to disprove a sterotype that carries so much weight is distracting and emotionally draining. And so bunnies go on hiring bunnies....

No actual small furry creatures were harmed in this thought experiment. Do not attempt to recreate the history of modern racism with your pets.

Does this sound like a self-righting system? One that will with time, even itself out? Your assertion #2 assumes that the workplace, the school, and other forums of opportunity would be equal opportunity if left to their own devices. Pyschological study of modern racism doesn't bear that out. Most people (regardless of race, ironically) still have some levels of cognitive or affective racism...ideas or emotions that serve as barriers to those percieved as outsiders. Short of dealing with that legacy of institutional slavery...i don't know how you can claim that the system could be self-correcting.