[lbo-talk] words for the black community

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Sun Jul 4 11:40:04 PDT 2004


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.

Imagine two mathematicians vigorously arguing that hoary, ever-popular issue, is the denominator more important than the numerator?

As R unintentionally showed, you say nothing about an individual's "place" in the u.s. social structure by identifying him as "African American" (Powell)or her as female (Rice). And while identifying a person as "working class" says nothing about him/her as a person, it _does_ indicate something about his/her place in the u.s. social structure.

The question is not just popular and hoary. It is incoherent non-sense. Any attempt to "amswer" it leads to incoherent non-sense.

Carrol



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