“That Conversation about Race” category archive
“Mean for the Sake of Mean” 0
In The Roanoke Times, Nancy Liebrecht sums up the Trump administration’s governing philosophy. A snippet:
Donald Trump and his administration clearly view cruelty as an appropriate means of achieving their aims.
Follow the link for context.
Lesson Learned 0
The Roanoke Times addresses the blackface controversy currently surrounding my governor and actually does some research. It traced down the text books that were in use when when Governor Northam was in school and points out that they grossly and purposefully misrepresented slavery, the Civil War, and the war’s aftermath.* Here’s a bit:
This is, of course, no excuse for being so stupid as to put on blackface in the first place, but it could be a mitigating factor for not realizing the full implications of doing so.
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*They did. I had some of those same text books and, indeed, remember the lie about “indentured servants.”
But I was a history major in college, where I unlearned Virginia’s lies. I doubt that Mr. Northam, as a prospective med student, had one-twelfth the number of history classes that I did over four years of college and a year of grad work (which taught me that, however much I may have loved the study of history, I was not cut out to be a professional academician).
Bad Days in Blackface 0
My friend’s cousin called from the West Coast with some family news earlier this week. She was taken about when he started asking her about Governor Northam’s yearbook picture; she hadn’t realize the reach of that news story.
My local rag today carried an excellent backgrounder on the place where Ralph Northam (and I, twenty years earlier and twenty miles farther south) grew up. I commend it to your attention.
Taking Inaction 0
In a longer piece about the implications of blackface and the recent revelations in Virginia, the Portland Press-Herald’s Greg Kesich makes a vital observation (emphasis added):
The real problem is much bigger and more complex. All of us were brought up in a racist world – not of our own making, but built on deep inequality that started with slavery and never ended. You don’t have to have hatred in your heart to perpetuate this system. You just need to pretend that you didn’t notice it.
I agree wholeheartedly with him that inaction in the face of evil is culpability.
No Excuses 0
In the Portland Press-Herald, Donna Edwards argues that the racist nature of blackface was old news a long time ago.
The stupid. It burns.
Driving while Black 0
Honest to Betsy, you couldn’t make this stuff up.
I can’t summarize or excerpt it in any meaningful way. Just follow the link.
Tales of the Trumpling: Snapshots of Trickle-Down Trumpery 0
Afterthought:
I did a year of grad work (History, U. S. Southern) at U. Va. I had a couple of great professors, one so-so one, and one so bad that his book got remaindered under his nose right there in C’ville.
I learned one thing in particular: A love for the study of history is not ipso facto a qualification for becoming a professional academician.