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only votes for Democrats because she can't stand theocrats. End of digression.)

The third possibility, and the one I think is most likely, is that people outside the NAACP think the organization has outlived its usefulness because there is no longer any serious racism in the United States. Pardon me while I laugh a whole lot. There, I feel better.

If racism is over in the United States, how is it that poor urban neighborhoods have such a large concentration of people of color, particularly those of African descent? You can't just run out and grab money if you want to be well-off, you know. You must either work for someone else or run your own business. If you work for someone else, that person has to decide to hire you. They also get to decide how much to pay you. Right there are two opportunities for racial discrimination to occur that would keep a person in poverty. Most U.S. states are hire-at-will states, as well, making discrimination very hard to prove. If you run your own business, you will only do as well as it is possible to obtain customers. If you're stuck in a neighborhood that whites consider "bad" on account of the racial makeup, if you can't rent a storefront in a "better" neighborhood because the landlord "just happened" to decide to rent to a white person instead, or if you manage to get the "good" storefront anyway but whites just won't come in and browse, how do you get ahead?

If racism is over in the United States, how is it that a white person and a person of color driving the exact same year, make, and model of vehicle experience such radically different outcomes? The white person as often as not is asked for license and registration, friendly banter takes place, and the white person is on his way without incident. The person of color may expect to be searched for drugs and arrested on the most ridiculous pretexts possible. You can't even reach into your pocket for ID on the street if you are a person of color who encounters police because they will likely shoot you to death because they "felt threatened." Especially if they outnumber you ten to one.

If racism is over in the United States, why is it that every time we have a national conversation about welfare and other War On Poverty benefits, the first image that comes to mind for the average white American is that of a poor black single mother, when there are more whites than blacks on welfare? Don't go blaming Ronald Reagan and his "welfare queen" comments. You can think for yourself,

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