>kelley wrote:
>
> > this was NOT a claim equating their experience with blacks more
>> generally.
>
>Then why bother. Several times since I begin hanging out in maillists I have
>encountered posts which out of the blue want to discuss "Bourgeois
>feminism" --
>not in reference to specific positions raised on the list or in any context
>which properly places that concern, or with any attempt to establish why that
>particular bourgeois ideology should occupy pride of place, but simply as an
>isolated point in itself. I have always interpreted such ungrounded "concern
>for bourgeois feminism" to be in fact concern for any kind of feminism
>whatever, as in fact (even if not intentionally) a support for male
>supremacy,.
>
>In reference to racism (and *all* racism in the United States is derivative
>from racism focused on blacks), quibbles are objectively defenses of racism.
>There was and is absolutely no reason to bring up the obvious but
>uninteresting
>fact that some "whites" are treated like "blacks." So What?
Essentially, examples you name above are acts of filibuster, obstructing political discussion by politically de-contextualized "facts" & anecdotes. On top of that, in the case of the obscurantist (in contrast to "Race Traitor") wing of "white studies," it's, at the same time, white intellectuals' way of fitting into "multi-culturalism" by creating their product niche; remembering their "blue-collar origins" now left behind & exorcizing "guilt" pleasurably (why should they feel "guilty" to begin with?); covering their moral asses in the face of criticism of racism ("my people, too, have been oppressed, and I speak for them"); deepening investment into "whiteness" which has become their "working capital" (remember Kenneth Burke's criticism of artists' investment in suffering); and so forth. Duh, I rather prefer Wojtek's honesty & clarity, much as I often disagree with him when it comes to the wars on crimes & drugs.
There _is_ a need to attempt to build solidarity between blacks and poor whites who are "treated like blacks" (well, there is already a hint of the problem in this formulation), but we can't do so on an e-list where folks are bringing up "my black neighbors in Baltimore who are for more cops in the streets," "my Polish friends who look like Latinos & hate the police," etc. Anecdotes about virtual friends insufferably typical in conversations on racism in America....
Staughton Lynd wrote about interracial solidarity built through the Lucasville Insurrection: "Black and White and Dead All Over: The Lucasville Insurrection," _Race Traitor_ (at <http://www.postfun.com/racetraitor/features/lucasv1.html>). Michael Yates posted here some time ago:
***** Subject: Two Monthly Review articles From: Michael Yates (mikey+ at pitt.edu) Date: Mon Feb 21 2000 - 18:03:54 EST
There are two interesting articles in the Feb. issue of Monthly Review (of course all of the pieces are of interest!):
1. "Overcoming Racism" by Staughton Lynd (available at the MR website:<ww.monthlyreview.org>). This is a fascinating account of a prison rebellion at Lucasville prison in Ohio in 1993. The rebellion demonstrated great unity between black and white prisoners. One white worker who helped build the unity was a member of the Aryan Brotherhood (in light of his experience in the rebellion, he broke with this group), now on death row along with four others, two white and two black, charged with murders, which took place during the rebellion). Lynd uses the rebellion (he has been involved in the defense of the five death row inmates) to discuss white racism and how it might be overcome through the normal struggles of daily life among workers. I would be interested to know what others think of it. It connects in a way to prior discussions on these lists about white militia groups, populism, etc....
Michael Yates *****
I don't remember if any discussion went on after the above post.
Yoshie