Why Almost Everyone Is Wrong About Racism

Commentary Economist Thomas Sowell, born in the American South and raised in Harlem, and the expert on race, income, and culture, once gave an example of why the notion that racism is the dominant or even only factor in explaining economic or other outcomes is flawed. Historically, he observed, the Italians dominated fishing fleets around the world, unlike the Swiss. Was “systemic” racism against the Swiss the reason? Or is the explanation that Switzerland has no coastline, while Italy is almost all coastline. Italians thus grew up with a natural advantage in fishing and enough of them made it their career to dominate the industry globally....