Letters to the Editor
Bruce Dixon
Published Letters: 4
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Here we go again.
[Read the article: Is race dying? ]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The lazy liberal, unwilling to actually confront racism, however one does such a thing, blames it on the black folks. The (presumably white) commentator rejoices that enlightened blacks no longer see themselves as black, and no longer identify with "the underclass". This is what he calls an encouraging sign of progress.
In keeping with the popular fashion of "color blindness" the author does not "see" race, and blames black people for not sharing his blindness. For Kamiya and many whites who subscribe to this way of thinking, "race" is something black people invented and cling to for their own reasons and to their own detriment. Hence it is cause for rejoicing when the scales fall from the eyes of the more uplifted among them.
That's utter, ahistorical nonsense. While there is no scientific basis for "race", it's not imaginary or a myth either. Race is very much a reality --- purely a social construct invented by whites for their own reasons. The "one drop rule" for instance, was promulgated by slavemasters who wanted the freedom to sell their own children by slave mothers, not by black leaders trying to expand their flock.
If race was not a real and significant factor in American life, how do Kamiya and others explain US racial disparity in incarceration rates, which ranges from two or three to one in Mississippi to to eight to one in Illinois, twelve to one in New Jersey?
Race in America is a white problem, caused by whites and inflicted upon the rest of us. Kamiya is rejoicing at the disappearance of that which he, in his white privilege, can choose to ignore.
The only encouraging thing about Kamiya's awful article was the reader reactions, who uniformly disagreed with him.
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Nice speeches. But will he fight for anything? Is he willing to make enemies?
[Read the article: Biracial, but not like me]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Where in Barack Obama's career is there any indication that he is willing to actually fight for anything, willing to make enemies of the powerful interests that stand in the way of meaningful and useful "change"?
This is a fellow who voted "present" more than a hundred times in the Illinois legislature, rather than "no" when in the minority.
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Mr. Bateman seems to be unfamilar with Nader's record. And with Al Gore's.
[Read the article: Scott Bateman: Oh boy! It's Ralph Nader!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]both before and since 2000 and 2004. Nader is the guy who we have to thank for seat belts, which have saved almost as many lives as we have taken in Iraq. He is the guy we have to thank for public interest research groups which have sprung up all around the country, and much, much more. For Bateman to suggest that Nader is silent and invisible between elections only reveals that he hasn't been paying much attention.
As for giving Bush the election in 2000, didn't Al Gore do that by refusing to recount every vote in Florida? Or by NOT carrying his home state of Tennessee, which like Florida takes the vote away from everybody convicted of a felony for life? Up to a fifth of black males in Gore's home state (and in Florida) cannot vote, but did you heard a peep from Gore about it, either during his campaign, in 2004, or since? I haven't. But I did heard from Nader on felony disenfranchisement, both in 2000 and since.
I worked for the election department in Cook County (suburban Chicago) in November 2000. Thursday morning after the election we were booking flights and hotel rooms to parachute our own team into Florida to help find those "missing" votes. The Gore campaign told us "never mind". Is that Nader's fault too? Give us a break, Scott.
Finally, the notion that third party candidates are "spoilers" clearly implies that participation in electoral politics is the exclusive (divine? constitutional?) right of Republicans and Democrats, nobody else. Where does it say that in the Constitution, Scott?
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It feels strange to agree with Kamiya
[Read the article: Rev. Jeremiah Wright isn't the problem]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]After he's gotten so much wrong on race before. But he nailed this one. Wright's sentiments are widespread in Black America, and nobody, not even Obama was inclined to ask when the ordinary wisdom of an eighth the population became off limits, excluded from the nation's political discourse.
We can't even publicly say that taking land and lives from the Native Americans was an act of genocide. When Native Americans campaigned and complained that the word "holucaust" should be inserted into the name of the Native American Museum on the mall, we declined and dismissed them.