>>At 10:36 AM 3/8/01 -0800, Brad Mayer wrote:
>> >So Art, what is your job? Or, put another way, why are you wasting your
>> >valuable time on this list?
>>
>>he already explained that he's engaged in anti-racist organizing and only
>>rarely delurks to point out what is deeply problematic about what we
>>whities say here every fucking time we open our mouths to talk about
>>racism, how to fight it, etc. spending a few moments here and there to
>>point out that our job is to figure out how whiteness works and to end
>>racist and racializing practices on OUR part is a part time job as far as i
>>could see.
>
>Well, I had addressed myself to Art, but there's nothing to lose in
>assuming you can legitimately speak for him. That also is really none of
>my business.
i wasn't speaking FOR him. i was interpreting what i thought he'd said to someone who also thought he could interpret what he thought art had said and, as a consequence of that interpretation, say something extremely controversial and substanceless.
i hope my post to Leo will further explain why i stepped in and why i made the analogy to something left men typically feel less confiden or even concerned to speak about in any serious way and where they wouldn't be quite so offended.
finally, i don't believe i called you racist or sexist. as to that issue, i will simply say this
no one, here, would deny that they are racist or sexist but that is different from engaging in a debate over whether or not a post or perspective is racist or sexist. we should always be able to discuss whether or not x or y argument is racist or sexist -- fully aware that we won't agree. assertions of racism or sexism (which i never made) shouldn't be taken at face value, and they certainly shouldn't be accepted simply because someone is white or black, man or woman, etc. nor should it even be accepted simply because someone marshalls the arguments of feminists or race theorists, etc.
kelley