[lbo-talk] Are Conservatives Racist?

Miles Jackson cqmv at pdx.edu
Sat Aug 20 11:25:41 PDT 2011


On 08/20/2011 09:19 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Aug 20, 2011, at 11:06 AM, shag carpet bomb wrote:
>
>> beats me. you didn't answer my question. why do you and others here care about the practical politics of anti-racism?
> Because people love to go, "that's racist!" (inspiring the name of a funny band), but they can't go beyond that.
>
> On this, I worship at the altar of Adolph Reed:
>
> http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com/Antiracism.html

I'm sure it will surprise no one that I agree wholeheartedly with Reed. However, I'm not sure why Doug is asking the question; Reed answers it quite nicely in the quoted passage. Dump the framing of racism as an ahistorical psychological problem and fight for specific political goals that will spark mass engagement. As Reed points out, the Civil Rights movement is a good historical example of this. Contemporary example: well-documented institutional racism in banking practices (home and business loans). Sure, we need to foment political resistance to the financial system as a whole, but documenting and challenging the gross racial injustices of current banking practices is something that may spark broader political action in a way we can't anticipate.

Miles



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