ravi, some people think that, when white people say they hope for a race-blind (color-blind) society, that they are usually in denial of the racist social organization and social relations that currently exist.
that was a criticism of some white supporters of obama when they took up the post-race society mantle (was that it?)
others are interested in a kind of critical essentialism here and now, with the end goal possibly being some kind of dialectical overcoming. it's a little like the way the race issue divides folks at black agenda report. some of them are really into a nationalizing rhetoric (glen ford) whereas the other fellah with whom Doug is friends thinks they are a little to racializing in their language.
i'm not sure exactly how to describe her position because it's not one
i'm especially familiar with. maybe write her?
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "SA" <s11131978 at gmail.com>
>
> I'd say this essay is a pretty good example of Wise-ism. A histrionic
> account of how personally wrenching and painful it was for this grad
> student to have an argument in the park over how to phrase a
> one-sentence characterization of racism with some friendly guys who
> agreed with her approach after a few minutes of conversation. Getting
> this poorly phrased sentence changed: a further step in the great
> historical chain of struggles - from the abolition of slavery, to the
> decolonization of Africa, to the smashing of Jim Crow, to the great
> working-group victory of 2011. A luta continua.
> ___________________________________
>
> I don't think so. Both Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright had problems
> with the CP's "we are all one race" tack. They lived long before Tim
> Wise. If consciousness, relationships, and communication is what is
> being rebuilt on OWS, then awareness of racism must be part of that.
> Racism is part of what we live with every bit as much as toxic
> chemicals in the water and air. And let me say it again: racism is not
> what the white man thinks about the brown man; it's what we all think
> about ourselves and one another after five hundred years of
> unrelenting horror.
>
> Joanna
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>
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