Interesting research; great and telling points. I look forward to seeing the finished article in _The Nation_. I'm curious about the "cultural politics" dimension (which overlaps w/black students' reservations about being put at risk by super-militant tactics of white anarchists) -- did any interviewees specifically express sort of a distaste for the cliquish, hermetic, more radical-than-thou aspects of white anarchists (see my post on same issue, not grounded in anything close to serious research like your post)? It does seem to me though that a lot of white middle class anarchist or otherwise radical activists have gotten involved w/certain issues of central concern to black folks in general, namely the prison-industrial complex and police brutality stuff (maybe the blask students feel like their movement is being defined and taken over by white activists ?).
John Gulick
>I'm working on an article for the Nation on student anti-corporate activism,
>and have been interviewing students extensively on these very questions. I
>just talked to a student at North Carolina Central, a historically black and
>working-class college, who has organizing some WTO/IMF education at his
>school; he said Seattle looked to a lot of black students like a big
>confrontation with the cops, and that may have tarred the movement for some.
>Black students have a lot more to fear from cops; he said, "If we had been
>there, they would have used real bullets, not rubber bullets." Middle-class
>white students might feel a certain pride in getting tear-gassed or even
>roughed up by cops; black kids might for obvious reasons experience it quite
>differently. Not only more violently, but as a personal failure; the NCC guy
>said "I'm going to law school, I'm not getting arrested." I'd add that
>mainstream media obsession with "violence" and left media's fixation on
>police excesses in Seattle might have contributed to the perception that
>that's what the anti-WTO movement is all about. Other students -- black,
>white and Asian -- agreed that a lot of middle-class American "students of
>color" do want a piece of the capitalist pie and aren't particularly
>radical. a friend of mine was disappointed to join her school's Black
>Student Movement only to find that the members were obsessed with electing a
>black Homecoming Queen. Many may (accurately) think their middle-class
>status is a lot more precarious than that of many white students, and that
>it's riskier for them to opt out of the system for a little while, and
>harder to opt back in. Others pointed out that students of color are facing
>so much backlash -- dismantling of affirmative action, generally hostile
>climate on a lot of campuses,etc. -- that those who are activists tend to
>have their energies taken up by those v. important issues. And yes, a lot of
>Third World solidarity in this country is fueled by white guilt; more white
>people feel bad that they're living comfortably off the sweat and blood of
>the people of the South because, um, more white people *are* living
>comfortably off the sweat and blood of the people of the South. (there's
>also a teeny bit of romanticization and exoticization underlying some 3rd
>world solidarity which also strikes me as a white thing) There's also, among
>some African-AMerican students, a suspicion that white progressives find it
>easier to worry about people of the South than to deal with inequality at
>home. there's also also a resentment among black activist students -- at
>least re: the mostly anti-sweatshop kids -- that the white kids movements
>are treated with much more respect -- by administration, media -- and get
>more attention that anti-racist actions by students of color do. And also,
>while I doubt that white anti-WTO activists conspicuously "working on their
>racism" is going to change *anything*, a number of white student activists
>did point out that the only way to build coalitions with people is to show
>up when they need you and white students don't tend to show up when the
>issue is racism, so why would students of color show up when a white-led
>group has a WTO event. Finally, it's difficult in racist America for black
>people and white people to work together on anything and always has been;
>students of all races seemed far from defeatist, but daunted by the
>challenge.
>
>oh and, in re: black students non-radicalism, I should also say that of
>course most white students aren't at *all* radical either, and that there
>are not nearly as many black students on American campuses, radical or
>otherwise, as there should be. the fact that there aren't that many black
>anti-WTO activists on campus, is of course partly a function of black kids
>dismal lack of access to higher ed. One might also say there should be more
>black English majors, and fewer young black men in jail.
>
>
>
>>I've been wondering about this. Much of the Northern anti-WTO
>>movement is based on solidarity with the people of the South - who
>>are, after all, "people of color." Why is there so little affinity
>>for this movement among "people of color" in the U.S.? Doesn't it
>>call into question the whole category, the assumption of common
>>interests among non-Caucasians?
>>
>>Since a lot of the U.S. anti-WTO movement is campus based, why is
>>there so little interest among black and Latino students in it? I
>>wonder if a lot of "minority" students are more interested in getting
>>a piece of the capitalist action than they are in challenging it
>>systemically? I'm pretty out of touch with campus life, which is why
>>I'm phrasing these as questions.
>>
>>Doug
>
>