Inequality is where capitalism and racism converge.

This is more word equation than essay. Rather than  advance an argument, I’m just going to state some uncontroversial (I think) facts which point to a conclusion that we won’t be able to deal with systemic racism until we start reversing inequality.

Capitalism is a system for increasing wealth through private ownership, profit seeking and competition. 

Capitalism benefits from competition which encourages innovation, risk taking and personal initiative. This is why capitalism works well with democracy and open societies based on individual rights. Racism excludes some people from participating in ownership and profit seeking and therefore weakens competition.

Slavery is a system for stealing the lives and work of some people to make other people richer.

Racism is not necessary but it is a useful ideology for the institution of slavery. If one group of people is going to strip another group of people of their freedom and all their material wealth, it is very helpful to designate them as less than fully human.  

Here is where racism and capitalism converge: 

Without regulation successful capitalists use their capital to limit competition for the purpose of increasing their capital. Gradually the capital accumulates into fewer and fewer hands and the system, which is no longer true capitalism, becomes a system for stealing the lives and work of some people to make other people richer. Racism is very helpful to this system.

When you have a history of racism and a capitalist system that is concentrating wealth into fewer and fewer hands, it is natural that the first people impoverished by this system would be those the society has traditionally discriminated against. 

As the system continues to concentrate wealth it starts stealing the lives and work of people it didn’t historically discriminate against. Eventually these people make common cause with the people who have traditionally been discriminated against. Protesting racism is the obvious flashpoint for the cooperation between the different groups of people whose lives are being stolen. 

Reversing inequality won’t end racism, which is a complicated ideology propelled by many forces, but without reversing inequality ending racism will be almost impossible because racism is so useful to a system that is concentrating wealth.