[lbo-talk] [Fwd: Jena Ignites a Movement: Report from Yesterday's Demonstration in Jena, Louisiana]

Michael Smith mjs at smithbowen.net
Mon Sep 24 19:10:07 PDT 2007


On Mon, 2007-09-24 at 20:20 -0400, Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Sep 24, 2007, at 8:03 PM, Joseph Catron wrote:
>
> > Town fathers do not constitute a ruling class.
> >
> > Exactly how much power do you envision anyone in a town of 2,971
> > having?
>
> Not much, but certainly they're connected to a ruling class of
> Louisiana and the south. Aren't they invested in maintaining a racial
> hierarchy?

I'm with Doug on this one -- sorta. Grew up in a small town in the South way back when there were still "colored" entrances to stores.

The thing to remember about these local elites is that they think -- and they're not far wrong -- that any change is bad for them. If you look at the balance sheet of their investments -- the value of their land, for example -- the solvents of modernity are unlikely to be bad for those, and may in fact be quite the reverse, but they will certainly turn the local squire, a man of consequence in his little world, into a middlin' well-off guy of no particular importance. From their point of view, that's a demotion.



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