Agent_Z said:
Here's the thing; marginalized groups have been trying to "endear" themselves to society for decades. And it hasn't worked. Did The Cosby Show help Dylan Roof and George Zimmerman see black people as fellow human beings whose rights should be respected and not monsters to be slain? Did Will and Grace make Trump less of a jackass to LGBTQ people?
One cause of universal bigotry is the uncontrollable fear of 'the other'. Are they like you? Do they have the same values? Can you trust them? All of that. Bill Cosby provided not only a look in an African American home, but routinely exposed a diverse culture to the heroes and the artists of the African American Community. Stevie Wonder appeared on it. Lena Horne as well. B.B. King. Sammy Davis Jr. Dizzy Gillespie. Actual giants in their arts.
But it can only do so much. Citing people who still committed racial or biased crimes does not diminish the impact of showing that African Americans were just like other families, just with different traditions. That's like criticizing Government because even though they had laws in place to punish Crime, All Crime hasn't stopped. There will always be segments of the world who will resist, hate, or destroy simply because that's what's in their heart. They'll justify it anyway they like, but still, rational people do not hate blindly towards a group of people because of one off bad experiences. I don't hate all cops, but I damn sure hate the cops that personally treated me wrongly.
Second, You can't deny how powerful positive or negative spin in media effects the world. When people say Welfare, most people think of Black people as recipients still, when the government still shows that in most aspects of concepts we consider as Welfare [https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/americans-welfare-perceptions-survey_us_5a7880cde4b0d3df1d13f60b] (Food Stamps, Medicaid, etc) go to white citizens. And then they'll break out proportionality because they can't just accept a smaller number.
"Medicaid had more than 70 million beneficiaries in 2016, of whom 43 percent were white, 18 percent black, and 30 percent Hispanic. Of 43 million food stamp recipients that year, 36.2 percent were white, 25.6 percent black, 17.2 percent Hispanic and 15.5 percent unknown. [Food stamps are formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.]"
Now, the truth is out there. But that proportionality thing will come about due to people who want to believe something more insidious. Others, who are just looking at facts would see "Oh, smaller number. Guess not blacks aren't the only people using welfare programs, or even using it the most.". Those with bias in their heart have to make that smaller number "make sense" or still seem bad because they just don't want to believe something than what they believe.
So, we'll get those "Blacks are only 13 percent of the population. Why is that number so big?!". And then you can trot out how school funding leaves minority schools destitute and there is no way out of that most of the time. People don't want to hear that. It's bullshit. If they wanted a way to get out, Blacks would pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
But what happens when you tell rich, white people that their children might be denied the resources they are used to?
Hilarity [https://www.theroot.com/watch-room-filled-with-rich-white-nyc-parents-gets-bi-1825600194].