“That Conversation about Race” category archive
Invariable 0
One more time, “I am not a racist, but . . . ” always translates to “I am a racist, and . . . .”
The Invisible Hand 0
In a thoughtful piece in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Jennifer Nelson muses on how she has benefited from white privilege throughout her life. Here’s a bit:
The deceptive thing about privilege is this: If you have it, you are unlikely to notice it, because it just is.
Still Hanging on 0
In The Des Moines Register, Cameron Carr reminds us that white America has never faced up the the legacy of chattel slavery and the embrace of racism. Here’s a bit of what he says:
Read the rest, then look at this month’s news and dare argue that he’s wrong.
A Legacy Indeed in Deed
0
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports on a project to locate and expunge segregationist covenants that linger in the legal language of residential deeds. The covenants no longer have force of law, but, as property transfers have taken place, they continue to exist in the fine print. Here’s a bit:
It’s long been rendered unenforceable by state legislation and federal law, but it’s jarring nonetheless for Holman, a construction attorney, who said he’ll try to get a court to nullify it.
(snip)
So far, members of the Mapping Prejudice project have discovered some 5,000 deeds with racist restrictions. The covenants appear to be concentrated in the whitest Minneapolis neighborhoods, illustrating the long historical reach that racial restrictions have had on the city’s residential housing, while helping to explain the de facto segregation housing patterns that exist today.
If you are foolish enough to think that the past does not live into the present (or even if you are not), read the whole thing.
Know Them by the Company They Keep 0
In The Bangor Daily News, Mary-Anne Saxl states a simple truth:
More truth at the link.
The Digital Deride 0
Josh Marshall muses on the effects of major internet platforms’ (Twitter, a number of hosting providers, Facebook, and the like) yanking the accounts of various Neo-Nazi white supremacist actors, or, to put it another way, returning the trolls to their rightful place–under the bridge.
After noting that the irony that much of contemporary American political discourse takes place via privately-held, monolithic, for-profit platforms, he makes this trenchant observation (emphasis added):
Do please read the rest.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Mike Pence and monumental stupidity:
Over the Threshold 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Gordon C. Nagayama Hall notes that white persons in the United States have higher thresholds for–that is, are less able to identify–racism and racist behavior than are others. He offers several reasons that could account for that. Here’s one:
- An example of an historical fact is, “The F.B.I. has employed illegal techniques (e.g., hidden microphones in motels) in an attempt to discredit African American political leaders during the civil rights movement”.
- An example of a false statement is, “African American Paul Ferguson was shot outside of his Alabama home for trying to integrate professional football”.
- An example of racism from the test is, “Several people walk into a restaurant at the same time. The server attends to all the White customers first. The last customer served happens to be the only person of color”.
Follow the link for the remainder of the reasons.
From the “Party of Lincoln” to the “Party of Stinkin'” 0
As I’ve noted several times, today’s Republican Party is the creation and the legacy of Richard Nixon. Nixon’s “Southern Strategy,” his decision to woo bigots and racists during his second campaign drew them into the party and they have no commandeered it.
Leonard Pitts, Jr., sums it up; here’s a bit:
(snip)
Its machinations have delivered to the GOP the presidency and both houses of Congress. Yet seldom has a party controlled so much and looked so bad doing it. Republicans find themselves saddled with an incompetent president elected on an implicit promise to make America white again. Under him, they are able to accomplish exactly nothing. They cringe as he suggests moral equivalence between bigots and those who protest them. As if all that were not bad enough, a newly revived hate movement now arrives, looking to cash in its chits.
Target Audience 0
The son of the founder of the white nationalist website, Stormfront, who has renounced his father’s views, tells what America’s Neo-Nazi, white supremacist movement looked like from the inside and why he finds it dangerous. Here’s how he starts out (emphasis added):
Much more at the link.
Afterthought:
Natch, “I’m not racist, but” means “I’m a racist, and.”
It’s a corollary to what I learned back when I did management training in communications skills:
“Yes, but” always means “No.”
Southern Twistory, Reprise 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear takes down the talking point that removing memorials to American traitors is somehow “destroying history.” (History can be misinterpreted, reinterpreted, explored, even forgotten, but it cannot be destroyed, for its fruits are all around us.) Here’s a nugget (emphasis in the original):
“Look in the Mirror, Boy” 0
In an editorial, Der Spiegel takes a look at Donald Trump.
It is not flattering.
Here’s an excerpt:
Follow the link for the complete article.