Leftists (white) and Black Liberation, was Re: Civil Rights

Chris Kromm ckromm at mindspring.com
Tue Nov 6 16:42:07 PST 2001


Ah yes, more convoluted inanity from Heartfield. First environmentalists were a tool of the bourgeouisie, now black people. Watch out, Latinos, poor whites, women, and everybody else -- you can't be far behind!

Manning Marable has consistently argued -- from "How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America" onwards -- that African-Americans are, in the main, culturally conservative and economically and politically socially-democratic. So no, he has never argued they are "conservative."

As for blacks in military service, this is especially off base. African-Americans -- and poor whites -- *are* disproportionately represented in the armed services. 42% of enlisted folks are from the South (a region that makes up 32% of the nation's population). The Department of Defense is rather candid about why this is true -- they state that recruitment is especially successful in areas with "high youth unemployment and poverty."

In other words, it ain't 'cause these people love the military.

Date: Tue, 6 Nov 2001 19:15:16 +0000 From: James Heartfield <Jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk> Subject: Re: Leftists (white) and Black Liberation, was Re: Civil Rights

Like Nathan, I take issue with this (which is probably unfair given Hakki's cautious proviso). Principally, it seems to me to mirror an attitude that longs for a barbarian invasion to sweep away the decadent metropolis - which is itself an effete fantasy, and a stereotyping of a race (no other word for it) that is not necessarily uniform in its attitudes, nor even especially radical.

In fact Black Americans' poll quite conservatively. In 1986, 83 per cent of blacks favoured school prayers, 43 per cent favoured outlawing abortions, 60 per cent 'oppose letting homosexuals teach in public schools', and surprisingly 77 per cent opposed quotas , quoted in Manning Marable, 'The Contradictory Contours of Black Political Culture', The Year Left 2: An America Socialist Yearbook (eds, Davis, et al), London: Verso, 1987, p7) (according to Gallup in 1996, 53 per cent of American blacks wanted to see more affirmative action) . Commenting on these findings, Manning Marable was blunt about 'the persistence of conservative cultural values among most working class and low-income blacks'. 'Profoundly religious in their outlook and civic socialization, the majority of Afro-American working people have no difficulty accepting legislation to permit prayer in public schools'. 'Undoubtedly, most blacks outside of the middle class would probably oppose abortion rights and legislation to protect the civil rights of homosexuals, and would not support federally-mandated school desegregation'. 'A majority of Afro-Americans support the death penalty, despite its systemic racist application against Black prisoners' (Manning Marable, 'The Contradictory Contours of Black Political Culture', The Year Left 2: An America Socialist Yearbook, p8). Marable's view of the social conservatism of black Americans is born out by a poll of black Christians. 'The views of black Christians reflect the mixed liberal/conservative agenda of their clergy. On the one hand, they express less support for the death penalty and more support for helping the poor than do other Christians. On the other hand, they oppose gay marriages and on balance take a pro-life position.' (Pew Charitable Trust, 'The Diminishing Divide ... American Churches, American Politics', June 25, 1996)

I don't have numbers to hand, but I think I am right in saying that black Americans are over-represented in the armed forces, relative to their number in the population as a whole. That poses an interesting dilemma for proponents of the 'black vanguard' thesis: Black Americans are playing a disproportionate role in the slaughter of Aghans, and other victims of US imperialism.

I don't make these points to say that black people are worse than white people. On the contrary, I take the view that all people, regardless of race, have a potential for reactionary or progressive contributions to events. - -- James Heartfield



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