--- Doug wrote
> >
> > >Look, the point is that simple racialized analyses
> > of imperialism
> > >don't work anymore. Two of the top administrators
> > of the Empire are
> > >now black. Neither is a marginal figure, and one
> > was the military
> > >leader of the Gulf War. More broadly, the senior
> > staff of the IMF and
> > >World Bank are extremely integrated - as are many
> > trading floors.
> > >Moreso than lots of left organizations, in fact.
>
> I tend toward the view that the success of Colin
> Powell is an incredibly positive thing for race in
> America.
How? Icky Beltway "conservatives" are in a self-congratulatory mood, their racial tolerance now seemingly beyond reproach since their leader has allowed so many negros into the inner-circle. Predicatbly, too many "black" folk are celebrating Powell's rise as evidence that the so-called black race is on the rise. Race and racial discourses are certainly being transformed. That transformation is having the effect of allowing more cow-tow blacks into the upper-echelons but cementing the conditions of blacks at the bottom. The Colin Powell phenomenah is more than just marketing--whatever the political implications, there are "conservatives" who have no personal investment in maintaining the racial status quo--but it is to a large degree marketing, the message being "look, America, you don't have to worry about anything in regards to race since people you would have never expected to put blacks in high positions are now doing just that. No need to worry about the wages of whiteness!
anymore! Isn't this a great country!" Of course, nobody should be surprised by any of George Bush's colored appointees and those who are need to pay closer attention to how race is transforming and being transformed by the international political and social economy.
When a talented or gifted black person gets
> a top job, that's fairly meaningless; talented people
> always do well.
When did talented black people "always" do well, whatever that means?
But when an ass-kissing mediocrity
Chris