For example I don't think many white Americans can really appreciate what systematic, fatal violence in their community does to people's mindsets, because we don't live in communities where violence is endemic.
And this is the fatal flaw in the argument - the notion that a white skin automatically means that you live in a nice safe suburban community where nothing ever goes wrong. Inner cities do have significant minority majorities, but they still have very large white populations as well, and inner city problems do not discriminate. Until the very concept of it being a racial issue rather than an economic one dies forever, nothing will change - because every single remedy attempted is targeting the wrong problem.
Unfortunately, race and economy
are tied together. How do you think we ended up with black ghettos to begin with? How do you think their neighborhoods fell apart, businesses left, schools didn't receive the money they need? The motivation for oppression has always been economic. To say the two are separate is to miss a large piece of the equation about why black people are where they are today. The most vulnerable communities are the ones that are easily exploitable, and it's the history of exploitation going all the way up through today that continues to keep them at a disadvantage. All the disadvantages of being black in America end up compacted in the inner cities, and you end up with a cycle of crapitude. Hell, even if a family does "make it out" the chances the next generation actually ends up BACK in the same place are higher for blacks than white people. There is actual pressure against upward mobility for them that isn't the same for white people, and isn't just a factor of a rocky economy.
I don't disagree that inner city violence is non-discriminatory. It happens where it happens. But when it is localized around the black community, whether they are the perpetrators or the victims, it sets a tone for their existence that I believe communities where whites the majority don't share.
Put another way, if you live in the same community with black people and one of them is murdered, but you didn't know them, nor do you know anyone that knew them, is it really "your problem?" "your tragedy?" Does it personally affect you, your worldview or your sense of self-worth? I don't doubt a murder in your community, regardless of who it happens to, affects your sense of safety. But is it a continuation of a violent narrative for you and yours like it is for them?
And yes, when I say "White people" I am generalizing. Lots of white people live in black neighborhoods and see and experience the same violence. But again, being white is not historically associated with discrimination, high levels of prosecution, persecution, imprisonment, poor economic standing and education and a drastically shorter life span. For blacks, all those are true.
Like I said, read the second article I linked. It's long, but it's eloquent, sourced and enlightening. Maybe I'm just swept up by a convincing argument for the other side, but reading it really made me rethink my perspective on how much I don't know about what it means to be black in America.