>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: [Fwd: Black America and the Struggle for Peace]
>Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 15:12:37 -0400
>
>Carrol Cox quoted:
>
>>Black America and the Struggle for Peace
>>By Frances M. Beal
>>
>>No matter how diligently some Black leaders wave their American flags
>>these days, they stand in opposition to a consistent historical thread
>>that has...
>
>Quick, someone tell Colin Powell & Condoleezza Rice. Oh, I forgot,
>their positions are meaningless in the grand scheme of things. As are
>the opinion polls that show no significant differences between blacks
>and whites in opinions on the war or on racial profiling of Arabs.
I have to say this is not my observation, though the fact I live in NYC probably skews my sample. I went to a Brand Nubian concert last night, and the audience reactions to their remarks about the WTC attack (before and after doing Probable Cause!) showed a definate difference by race. If you read Boondocks, you know what I mean.
I would also say that I think opinion polls are skewed by those willing to be polled, and also by the pollers' intentions. (Christopher Hitchens has a fine piece on the history of pollers influencing outcomes in Prepared for the Worst.)
Not to mention, Colin Powell has been as doveish as its possible to be in the Bush administration.
All of that said, I'd be more comfortable with a lineage drawn by ideology than one by race. It would avoid the trap of essentializing.
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