Tag: slavery

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White Supremacy as the Form of North American Capitalism

When it comes to thinking about race and human rights, I’m obsessed. You’ve probably noticed that. But what might be less obvious (or, who knows, maybe more obvious) is that the pandemic has put my obsession on blast. Case in point, I was up at 5:30 today, eventually landed at my desk, and there I saw that a long-time human rights activist I know from Portland had asked me a question via direct messenger.

By then it was 3:30am in Portland, but when I answered, she was awake. Good to know there are other people as obsessed as me. And … Read more “White Supremacy as the Form of North American Capitalism”

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Why We Can’t Trust the US State

A version of this talk was delivered originally at a teach-in on “Ferguson and Beyond: Race, State Violence, and Activist Agendas in the 21st Century” at the University of Washington on January 23, 2015. Video of the teach in can be viewed here.

Let me begin by pointing out some obvious, but oftentimes overlooked, points. We live in a society where we can’t escape the US state and its insistence on allegiance and loyalty. But, for many of us, the US state—and I use that term to refer to all levels of government, be it local, state, or federal—has … Read more “Why We Can’t Trust the US State”

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Michael Brown, Ferguson, and the Logic of Slavery

The shocking situation evolving in Ferguson, MO has laid bare an ugly feature of American life: that the relationship of American society to Black people is founded upon the logic of slavery.

Now, I know many of you will roll your eyes at that assertion. I get it. Slavery was abolished over 150 years ago, before anyone now living was born. But turn on your TV. Go online and read what has already happened in Ferguson. If there is some other logic guiding these events, it certainly isn’t apparent. No, the guiding logic here is operating below the surface, informed … Read more “Michael Brown, Ferguson, and the Logic of Slavery”

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The Problem with White Pride

 

The Race Files publication of Pakou Her’s My Racial Trigger: Raising Brown Babies sparked an unexpected debate about white pride. In particular, this video got the ire of one Race Files reader –

[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/1VF7M_29Nt8″]

The little girl in the clip is biracial. She celebrates this by shouting “hapa power!” while raising her fists in the air. “Hapa” is a Hawaiian word meaning part or half that is often used to refer to mixed race people, especially those of Asian or Pacific Islander/Native Hawaiian descent.

In response, a reader named Jana wrote the following comment,

So when … Read more “The Problem with White Pride”

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More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley

Yesterday I wrote about Brad Paisley’s Accidental Racist, his musical response to accusations of racism he faced for flying the rebel flag on his chest. Its message? The past is the past. Let’s get over it and move on.

But the song is worth further dissection because I think it reveals a great deal about why the GOP’s racist Southern Strategy was successful, and why it’s going to be tough for them to simply re-brand that strategy away in order to meet the challenge of demographic change.

For the uninitiated, the Southern Strategy was built on the ruins of … Read more “More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley”

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Why I Support Same Sex Marriage as a Civil Right, But Not as a Strategy to Achieve Structural Change

The pending Supreme Court decisions concerning the constitutionality of California Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act have pushed discussion of same-sex marriage into the mainstream of the news cycle, with many civil rights advocates convinced that regardless of the court’s decision, eventual victory is a done deal. I don’t disagree. I’ve also argued in support of same sex marriage rights. However, I have some serious worries about the broad implications of this victory.

Why? First, the obvious. Marriage is a conservative institution. It licenses certain kinds of relationships and not others based on a template that reproduces a … Read more “Why I Support Same Sex Marriage as a Civil Right, But Not as a Strategy to Achieve Structural Change”

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The Autodidact’s Guide to Hegemony

My post of a couple of days ago, Why I Write What I Write, was my autodidact‘s first stab at tackling the concept of cultural hegemony. I know that’s a big, complicated idea, but I think it’s pretty key, and have ever since my brief and tortured attempt at college in my early 20s helped me name the experience.

Webster defines hegemony in a couple of ways, the more useful to my mind being, the social, cultural, ideological, or economic influence exerted by a dominant group. But cultural hegemony is more than just influence. The lazy man’s … Read more “The Autodidact’s Guide to Hegemony”

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The Stuff You Can Learn From Late Night TV

Since it’s Friday, I thought I ought to post something short. This video made me laugh out loud.

It’s made the rounds so you’ve may have already seen it, but it’s the kind of thing that deserves multiple looks. And it’s gotta be one of the best things to happen on late night talk TV in a while.

Louis C.K.’s point about slavery being just “two 70-year old ladies living and dying back to back” behind us in history is a good one, especially in light of what’s happened since abolition.

We’re one of those old lady’s middle aged younger … Read more “The Stuff You Can Learn From Late Night TV”

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Columns Reviews

Book Review: The Warmth of Other Suns…Now, Go Ahead, Read It!

 

Isabel Wilkerson’s The Warmth of Other Suns is a great read. I know I’ve said this already, but I want you to read it, now, if you haven’t already. Then I want you to tell me what you think of it. Seriously.

The Warmth of Other Suns is a compelling account of the great migration of African Americans who fled the South for Northern cities in the early to late-mid 20th century. The migrants whose stories are shared were driven out of the South by the humiliations and horrors of Jim Crow and drawn Northward by stories, many … Read more “Book Review: The Warmth of Other Suns…Now, Go Ahead, Read It!”

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Not a Nation of Immigrants

It’s an often repeated mantra, that American is a “nation of immigrants.” Ever since the phrase was popularized by John F. Kennedy (who used it as the title of a New York Times editorial and a book), it has been used by those on the right and the left of the political spectrum, though with different goals in mind. On the left, the phrase is usually meant to subvert patriotism to the cause of immigrant rights. On the right, the notion is used to flatten out the rich textures of our diverse experiences of America, the wrinkles and creases … Read more “Not a Nation of Immigrants”