“That Conversation about Race” category archive
A Notion of Immigrants 0
Sam, Emma, their guest, attorney and writer Sam Melo, discuss the history of immigration and immigration legislation in the United States.
Limitations of Statues 0
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Maureen Downey looks at efforts to change the names of schools honoring the Secesh and the obstacles those efforts are encountering. A snippet:
The SPLC inventory revealed the effectiveness of a campaign by United Daughters of the Confederacy to rebrand the events of the Civil War as heroic, especially through the naming of Southern schools. “These names are living symbols of white supremacy, and there is a difference between remembering history and showing a reverence for it,” said Lecia Brooks, chief of staff for the SPLC, during a recent media briefing. “Removing namesakes that celebrate a revisionist Confederate past does not erase history; it corrects it.”
Myth America 0
Billy Field argues that truth matters, even when some of it hurts.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
At Chron.com, Dan Carson reports that Texas Lt. Gov. Patrick appears to have embraced the “great replacement” theory promoted by white supremacists. A snippet; follow the link for the rest.
“This is trying to take over our country without firing a shot,” Patrick said.
Patrick’s remarks sound strikingly like “Great Replacement” theory talking points — an old line of rhetoric used by white supremacist groups around the world to whip up fear using the specter of encroaching minority hordes. It warns of a future where white nations are overrun by black and brown immigrants, emphasizing cultural purity and the “securing” of the white race. And it’s had a disturbing renaissance of among conservative pundits in the Trump and post-Trump age.
They’re not even trying dress the racism up in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes any more.
The History Buff 0
Elsewhere, coincidental but relevant, Betsy Biesenbach reflects on what I can only call “selective historiography,” and Tony Norman delivers a case study.
Image via Juanita Jean.
Indoctrination Nation 0
We are seeing numerous attempts to deny the reality of America’s history by, for example, pretending that America’s racist system of chattel slavery somehow wasn’t. It’s almost as if some folks think that, if students don’t learn about racism and bigotry in America’s past and present, said racism and bigotry didn’t–don’t–exist, and, consequently, no one past or present need acknowledge, be held accountable, or atone for them.
At the Las Vegas Sun, Greg Wieman argues forcefully that schools should teach history, not myths. A snippet (emphasis added):
In contrast, modern-day Russia and China utilize biased curriculum and instructional materials to indoctrinate students about societal beliefs and thereby control the population. In the U.S., we should continue to move away from this method of political brain-washing. A free society grows stronger when frailties are exposed and corrected. Indoctrination is not knowledge.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
Mona Charen warns that the party of the new secesh poses a clear and present danger.
Afterthought:
It all boils down to America’s original sin of chattel slavery, the racism which was created to justify it, and the racists whose self-esteem rests only on the color of their skins.
The Making of a Myth 0
Emma and her guest discuss the birth of a notion: the story of the “Lost Cause” amd the major role played in its creation by the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Full Disclosure:
I had ancestors who belonged to the UDC.
Facebook Frolics 0
The Zuckerborg is a malevolent kludge that despoils society as it packs the purses of its proprietors.
Ask me nicely, and I’ll tell you what I really think.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
My professor for the history of the early federal period (roughly the early 1800s) when I was in graduate school (where my most significant learning was that I was not cut out to be an academician), Dr. Shade, was fond of saying that “history is irony.”
Here we have persons protesting the teaching of the existence of systemic racism–something not being taught–proving the existence of systemic racism.
There are none so blind as those who will not look.
