Part 2: Historical Labor Barriers Proving White Systemic Power
In Part 1, we established that systemic racism is defined by prejudice plus power, and that today's economic realities prove Black Americans lack the institutional control necessary to wield this power against white people.
In this post, we will examine the historical record to show how white systemic power was deployed to create and enforce racial hierarchies, using the labor market as a prime example of institutional discrimination.
A History of Deliberate Exclusion from Opportunity
The history of Black labor is not one of equal competition, but of forced exclusion from the best opportunities and permanent relegation to the worst.
1. Denied Access Until National Crisis (The WWII Shift)
For decades prior to World War II, white systemic power ensured Black workers were shut out of entire sectors of the modern economy:
Exclusion from Skilled Trades: Black workers were systematically barred from desirable, skilled industrial trades like machinists, electricians, and basic clerical roles. Explicit company policies often stated a refusal to hire Black workers in anything but the most menial jobs.
Defense Industry Blockade: Even as the country prepared for global war, the new, high-wage defense and aircraft plants were virtually all white. It took the immense labor shortage of World War II, and the threat of a massive protest march, for President Roosevelt to issue Executive Order 8802 (1941) banning discrimination in the defense industry.
Systemic Power in Action: This was not a change of individual hearts; it was a crisis-driven necessity that proved how deeply embedded the exclusionary economic systems were. Even when hired, Black workers were often placed in segregated units, paid less, and denied supervisory positions, maintaining the racial hierarchy within the workplace itself.
2. Relegated to Work White People Did Not Want
The other major route for Black employment was to be relegated to jobs considered too dirty, dangerous, menial, or poorly paid for white workers. This ensured that essential work got done without threatening the white economic advantage:
The "Dirty" and "Dangerous" Trades: The few skilled industrial roles open to Black workers were often those associated with intense heat, harmful fumes, and extreme danger. These were jobs white workers actively avoided, making it acceptable to place Black workers in them.
Economic Vulnerability in Service: Black workers were consistently funneled into jobs that offered little protection or opportunity for wealth-building, such as Pullman Porters and domestic service (where Black women were often excluded from New Deal labor protections like Social Security).
The Bottom Line: Power Defines Racism
These historical patterns, backed by laws and institutional norms, prove that the ability to discriminate on a systemic level has always rested with the dominant group. The system dictated who could build wealth, who could join a skilled trade, and who was relegated to labor that was physically taxing, low-wage, and unprotected.
Acknowledging systemic discrimination against Black people is not about dismissing individual prejudice from any source. Rather, it is about recognizing that some forms of discrimination operate on a scale so vast—backed by institutional power—that they fundamentally warp entire societies.
Understanding this crucial difference is the first step toward building a truly just and equitable society for all.
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