[lbo-talk] at least he's black!

Carrol Cox cbcox at ilstu.edu
Fri Feb 15 16:10:47 PST 2008


Dwayne Monroe wrote:
>
> John Thornton:
>
> Why give Obama a pass on this BS? Would you give Clinton a similar
> pass if she said something this offensive and stupid?
>
> ....
>
> This is the real test, isn't it?
>
> If HRC or John, 'we'll out of Iraq when the sun goes Nova' McCain were
> to say Blacks had almost reached parity with Whites I'm sure no one -
> except maybe DLC'ers, John Birchers and allied tradespeople - would
> declare this to be inspirational.

Debating the centrality of structural racism in the U.S. is in one way futile: Anyone who doesn't see it simply doesn't want to see it. I think I've made the following point before: the dangerous racists now are not the KKK types, or even the type that is uncomfortable in social or work situations involving blacsks. The dangerous racists are those who (more or less sincerely) feel no prejudice themselves (or think they don't), but who cannot see the necessity of breaking the racist structure of u.s. society;, as a precondition for substantial reform in _any_ area of u.s. society. Blacks are overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq, and greatly underrepresented in the anti-war movement -- and the reasons for that are buried deep in the structure of our socieity, rather than with either the anti-war movement itself or the willingness of blacks to stuggle for what's right.

And a final point. Those who cannot see the validity of Miles's proposition are thereby crippled in their understanding of what goes on in all areas of life in the U.S. To understand the u.s. one _begins_ with understanding the racist dynamic of the nation.

Carrol



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