Jon Johanning wrote:
> So to raise that hoary, ever-popular issue: is class more important
> than race in the U.S. I'm beginning to think so, but I don't know how
> to separate them clearly, and how to find a dependable answer if they
> can be separated.
The bearded one said that the U.S. had to solve the race question before it could do anything. This is interesting inasmuch as Marxists insist that class trumps everything. And yet...how can there be any meaningful change of conciousness in this country without people understanding the reality and urgency of the public or common good? And how can they do so if they are unwilling the see that "public" or "common" includes quite literally everyone -- no matter their color, their gender, their sexual preference, their religion?
To continue thinking out loud, if the oppression of minorities has had to continue in much more covert ways, it is precisely because overt oppression is no longer acceptable, and that can be considered a victory of sorts. BUT... we don't have lynchings, we have a prison system that substitutes for it -- with the government's seal of approval. We don't have segregation in the schools, but we have an underfunded urban public school system that is largely attended only by minorities. We don't have slavery, just an ever-growing number of people competing for minimum wage jobs. You see? In some ways, the social-historical articulation of racism in the last twenty years has actually led to a situation where in order to fight racism, you must fight for the public/common good: you must fight for the rights of felons, for the legalization of drugs, for detox programs, for socialized health care, for a living wage, for high-quality public education, against the death penalty...etc.
Joanna