Letters to the Editor
weeping for brunnhilde
Published Letters: 1150 Editor's Choice: 3
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@ Kate
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Listen, Kate, I'm black and, outside of my family, I've lived in "white society" my whole life.
Nearly all of my friends have been and continue to be white. Some of them Americans, others Europeans.
I love them, deeply.
Sometimes they say racist things. Most of them don't, but over the years, some of them have said things that make me cringe.
I don't know you.
I do know that you've written some lovely things about the springtime in Texas. I also know that you've written other things that come from a perspective that I can't but consider racist. Now, we can argue about the terminology. Maybe "racist" isn't the most accurate term. Fine, whatever.
The point is that, from my point of view, it's disturbing.
I don't know what to say, really.
This is such a sensitive topic and I know it's nearly impossible to talk about without hitting raw nerves and creating more rancor than it alleviates.
I don't know what to do, though?
Do you have any ideas how to begin to move past the stalemate Obama talks about?
Or does anyone here, btw?
I'm making an effort, as best as I know how.
I'm not here to run into a dead-end or to be incendiary or to waste my time.
So if you've got any better approaches, now would be a good time to share.
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@ Kate
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One more thing, Kate. I can appreciate that you've been under siege. This was why I was trying to talk directly to you and why I asked Tom to give us the space to do so.
Again, I can only ask that you take me at my word when I say that I'm not here to accuse or convict you. Whether I think you're a racist or not or harbor racial animosities or not or however you might want to put it, should be beside the point.
You're welcome to think what you want about me and I, likewise, will promise to try not to become offended to the point of shutting down dialogue.
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@ anonymust
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, I didn't see the op-ed, but I did see Cuomo on cnn talking about it last night, which is probably why he came to mind so readily.
Terrible idea, btw, imo. The last thing I think a President Obama (knock on wood) would need is Clintons hovering around.
I honestly would not trust them to work with the administration. I just can't see how that would work.
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@ David
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I agree that the very expression "playing the race card" is racist. Nice explanation.
As to the rest, I certainly appreciate what you're saying, but it's just too misanthropic for me.
That's not who I am.
I can see the point objectively, and I've this same point of conflict with other friends and allies, but it's just not me.
It used to be, so I do understand it.
I just think it's too zero-sum and personally, I believe that zero-sum thinking is the greatest obstacle to world peace.
Honestly.
I want no part of it. (Is it zero-sum to reject zero sum?)
"Don't you know that you can count me out (in!). DOn't you know it's gonna be..."
And I did try to patch things up with chhabili, didn't I?
I addressed (or at least tried to) his/her criticism about my comparing Kate to Pastor Wright.
Go back and read it, it's there.
If my explanation needs clarification or elaboration, here I am, but please don't say I'm not trying.
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ep
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Ah, of course. Thanks. Yeah, I did introduce it, though I forget the context.
(I'm not its best champion, by any means, btw. I've never studied it formally and only understand it insofar as it's "in the air," as it were.)
And thank you for the vote of confidence and recognition.
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@ David
[Read the article: Barack Obama, working-class hero?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Another thing: I'm not trying to "win Kate over."
I'm not a salesman.
I'm trying to cultivate mutual understanding.
Mutual.
I'd like to understand her and I'd like her to understand me.
Two-way street.
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@ Blue Amberole
[Read the article: Thank you, Rush Limbaugh!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"This is why learning about history is so important. Sexism has had far longer to get imbeded into our senses. Hence, Racism is more easily overcome."
I'm an historian, so your overall point is well-taken with me.
However, if we really want to have a serious conversation about this, you'll have to qualify your conclusion.
What, precisely, do you mean by "Racism is more easily overcome?"
Do you have particular metrics in mind? Do you have particular contexts in mind?
Is it possible that in context A racism is "more easily overcome" while not so in context B?
This issue is too important not to really dig into (i.e., apply something like serious social-scientific analysis, for what that's worth) if we're going to talk about it.
Is this fair?
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and yes
[Read the article: Thank you, Rush Limbaugh!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"And when you go back to that very seminal moment where a woman asked John McCain, "How do we beat the B-word?" and John McCain laughed, I mean, you cannot imagine that happening, "How do we beat Barack Obama?" and somebody using the N-word, and laughter. So, you know, a kind of genial sexism is so much more okay in our society than that kind of racism. It's just true."
Hard to argue with this. It certainly appears true on the face of it.
I do wonder, though, if the public/private difference should be factored in.
A lot of white people around here, for instance, avow that their friends/acquaintances/relatives will engage in the same sort of "genial" racism freely in private, though they would never do so in any kind of public or ambiguous context.
So, Joan, when you write that "a kind of genial sexism is much more ok in our society than that kind of racism," it should probably be made explicit that you're referring to public rather than private discourse.
I have no idea whether that bears any impact on the larger point, but I think it's worth noting and factoring in.