I have been "listening" very intently to the lbo-talk threads on race and class.
I find myself getting more and more furious about my course at school, and about society.
The class is almost over. I showed Chris Niles what we have read. Very though provoking material.
What is making me angry is that the professor seems to avoid bringing discussion of class into the disscussions. I'm not well versed on marxist theory, but I am oppressed by class myself.
Here we are, all of us white, in a college course disscussing race. That's okay. My classmates for the most part really seem to be gaining some depth in their thoughts about race. They are weathering through the uncomfortable feelings and growing I think.
But these folks are not prepared to take any risks when it comes to challanging the capitalist system. They are wrapped in comfortable cotton batting, and I don't think they want me throwing stones at them. It seems they can visualize racial equality as long as it does not threaten their individual material advantages. Maybe my perspective is tainted because I cling to the lowest rungs of the American economic and social ladder.
When we went over Angela Davis's contribution to "Fires in the Mirror", by Anna Deveore(SP?) Smith, some folks in the room thought Davis was an academic in an ivory tower! I said that more complex language and thought is required to fight political battles on the turf of the establishment. People smirked at that. I do know that if one is of low social status with limited powers of articulation, and few crednentials or accomplishments under belt- it's hard to get anyones attention!
The passing novel. I realize this character is fiction, but we also read Julius Lester, "Lovesong: On Becoming a Jew". Lester has hereditary ties to Judaism, and I understand his embracing that faith. What I don't understand is how he seemingly denies his black heritage. The character in the novel does too. He's a lightskinned man who has great ambition from childhood. He disowns his family, and develops the identity of a white, Jewish classics professor.
The character in the novel gains economic and social power. Now maybe it's the moral character of the individual that is flawed. Or maybe these folks are developing survival mechanisms in a dog eat dog world. What kind of a society would cause a person to want to deny or recreate themselves this way?
I think it was Chris, that brought up the point about some white folks that claim to be part Indian or whatever. He said how many people are out there claiming to be 1/4 black?
I was at the bus stop at Walmart. Someone's graffiti read "They steal our culture and sell it back to us". That struck me.
This is not a new question, but is it just natural for humans to be selfish and greedy?
I was giving my professor the November issue of Oprah which had an interview with a Holocoust survivor (forgot his name forgive me), and also featured Anna D. Smith. She started thumbing through it at and saw a luxurious chair. She said "I want that chair." It just seemed superficial.
Now I was on the bus with my younger boys yesterday, and were riding around the opposite way on the route so we would not have to wait outside. We went though a really prosporus area. I envied the folks that lived there. Having children makes me regret sometimes not joining the rat race so they can have a yard to play in, among other luxuries.
I must be a fool, but I have never been able to stomach people who exclude others because of appearance and class. Even back in elementary school. I was white middle class then, not unattractive or anything. I just could not join the groups that spent their free time hurting others. I would defend people, and therefore I became one of the fringe.
Jennifer Young
_____________________________________________________________________________________ Get more from the Web. FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com