“That Conversation about Race” category archive
The Secesh Never Stopped Rising Again 0
Tennessean David Cook reacts to the continuing revelations of white politicians who wore blackface and in other ways memorialized the Secesh when they were young. He considers his own experiences as a white guy growing up in the South. Here’s a bit; I commend the article to your attention:
Nor am I surprised by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook photo.
My hunch is that many African-Americans aren’t surprised, either.
Racism isn’t a surprise.
It’s often seen as the norm, the expectation.
“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.