Subj: Re: THE RACE DEBATE AND THE SWITCHThx for sharing Lawrence. The article rings out with TRUTH! I will share article widely with others.
On Jul 12, 2014 4:51 AM, <LawrLCL@aol.com> wrote:
LAWRLRN
1. From: Raynard
Subject: The Race Debate and Switch
The Race Debate and SwitchBy Salim Muwakkil
Outside the Staples Center on April 29, Dexter McLeod protests racist comments by L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. (Jonathan Alcorn / Getty Images) The Race Debate and Switch
America almost had a real conversation about racism.
It's clear that the presence of the first black president has done little to salve our racial wounds. Instead, Barack Obama's presidency may have made things worse.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified an explosive growth-as much as 800 percent-in the number of white supremacist and "patriot" groups since 2008. Aside from such reactionary responses, the reality of a black man in the White House has injected race into some virgin veins of American life. Brown University political scientist Michael Tesler describes what he calls "the growing racialization of American politics." Democrats and Republicans once responded roughly similarly to hot-button racial issues (the O.J. Simpson case, Don Imus' "nappy-headed-hos" slur), but since Obama's election, a chasm has appeared. For instance, Democrats were three times as likely as Republicans to think that 12 Years A Slave deserved an Oscar and three times as likely to be dissatisfied with the George Zimmerman verdict.In an April 7 cover story, "The Color of His Presidency,"
New York magazine writer Jonathan Chait writes that "race ... has now become the primal grievance in our politics, the source of a narrative of persecution each side uses to make sense of the world." Chait believes this development cripples political discourse. But he's too equivocal about where the blame lies. He identifies the persistence of anti-black attitudes among the Republican electorate as one cause, but he also blames those who point this out for spurring Republicans to dismiss racism as a mere smear tactic.Chait's article is the continuation of a less neutral series of dueling blog posts, in which Chait and The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates have debated the role of black culture in the chronic disparities faced by African Americans.The debate was triggered by Coates' comment on his Atlantic blog that Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan's remarks that men in "inner cities" are afflicted by "not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work" is pretty much identical to the president's practice when speaking to Black audiences of "feebly urging positive habits and behavior."The kernel of Coates' argument: Black cultural pathology is used to deflect the damage of white supremacy and, ironically, the first black president is complicit in this framing.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
THE RACE DEBATE AND THE SWITCH & MEETING IN WASHINGTON ON WEDNESDAY
making sure you all read the below.
NO.... i will not be going to washington on wednesday with the Black farmers to meet with dr. joe leonard and his staff. ron cotton, has decided not to attend, as well. we are in concert.
lawrence
