More on race

[Rakesh Bhandari]

There is a most stimulating debate between Herbert Hill and Nelson
Lichtenstein in the recent New Politics over the racism of the UAW under
Reuther's leadership. The nature of the union movement in post war WWII
world is put up for question.

On Farrakhan, there is a great collection of essays by Amy Alexander, ed.
The Farrakhan Factor: African American Writers on Leadership, Nationhood,
and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Grove Press, 1998.

I will have to quote Henry Louis Gates, Jr:

"Farrakhan is a man of unhealthy fixations, but the reciprocal fixation on
Farrakhan that you find in the so called mainstream is a sign of our
impoverished political culture. Thirteen decades have passed since
Emancipation, and half of our black men between twenty four and thirty five
are without full time employment. One black man graduates for every one
hundred who go to jail. ALmost of black children live in poverty. People
say that Farrakhan is now the leading voice of black rage in America. One
day, America will realize it got off easy."

rb