> So what then do you do about it ["race"]? You fight for unions, a better
> welfare state, progressive taxation, or more radical stuff. Does that
> mean you attack something called racism? If so, where do you find it
> and how do you fight it? Do you throw around phrases like "living hell"
> and "the left is racist because it doesn't revere the Black Panther Party"?
> Do you hire Tim Wise to give sensitivity courses? Where will that get you
> exactly? Will that change a single mind?
I appreciate Doug putting it in these terms. Clarity helps. I'll add one thing, which (IMO) is key in the what-is-to-be-done department:
The true and ultimate protagonists of this struggle are the direct victims of racial oppression: colored people. It is their struggle -- or there is no struggle. So, they dictate the pace, the strategy, the tactics, the switchbacks, etc. The terms of the struggle are to be decided by them. Now, they may decide that they accept an outsider and want that outsider as their leader. But even as a leader, the outsider has to recognize that it's their struggle and that she/he is their instrument -- a conscious instrument, perhaps, but an instrument nonetheless.
If you are coming from the outside (e.g. if you are relatively wealthy, educated, male, and white) and want to join the struggle against racial oppression (say, because you realize that racial oppression oppresses the oppressor), you can do a tremendous amount of good. You can bring along, well, resources. And, perhaps most importantly, and this is what the struggle will need the most, you can bring along universal elements of culture, science, knowledge, and artistry that can be extraordinary helpful in the struggle. But also typically, you will also bring along with you *prejudices* of all kinds, including racial prejudices.
That is to be expected, because we all are a product of circumstances.
But if you want your effort to bear fruit, you have to be willing to shed your prejudices. And it is the role of people in these movements to help you set yourself straight when your prejudices get in the way.
These exercises in personal interaction can be very rough emotionally, and if the personal commitment is not very strong, people will waver and be tempted to withdraw back into their comfort zone, which is obviously a painful loss for both sides.
This should not be construed as pretending to be who you are not, accepting mistreatment, trying to imitate superficial traits of colored people, etc. No. Gimmicks in trying to ingratiate yourself with the protagonists of the struggle are counterproductive. The closest analogy I can think of is the seduction of a person whom you want to share your life with. If you want to increase the chance of success, you better approach that person with honesty and respect, without pretense, and you give her the benefit of the doubt (unless you gather enough reasons not to). Common sense stuff, I guess.