Letters to the Editor
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Our back pages
The whole article is based on a confusion between the contents of the elite field of attention ("Iraq" etc.) and that of the great mass of people. Gary Kamiya hasn't been writing much about race in the last few years, therefore it has faded away. Even black people are giving up on the idea!
Slap yourself a couple of times and look around. The big issue in the election is not foreign policy. It's immigration. From Mexico.
9/11 itself was immediately cast as a race drama: we are the victims of virulent Untermenschen bent on destroying us. Therefore we are licensed to destroy them, rule those we don't destroy, take their possessions, and so on -- apparently in perpetuity.
You'd think that blatancy of the racism in the Katrina disaster and its ethnic-cleansing aftermath would make an impression. 'Race' is an ever-present factor in the social dynamic, always ready to dominate it, and one of few things that most people are ready to respond to viscerally as involving an all-justifying existential threat. It doesn't have to be on the front pages daily.
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No racing past racism
Racial angst, as interpreted in Mr. Kamiya’s article, owes its existence to small minds, to lazy minds who blame their shortcomings on others. This elevates the small mind to a fantasy where he or she would be a big person, if only others would not have interfered. It removes responsibility for the creation of the disease in one’s heart from the self to an ubiquitous other. Thus they can continue to live, no matter how shallow and tormented.
Paradoxically, by blaming others for one’s disadvantages, one’s disadvantages multiply. Those who blame do not recognize the uniqueness and grandeur of themselves. Everyone who has the ability to read this or any other letter is an artist who can improve their version and vision of the world. Most know this but choose to condemn such feelings to a sealed pot.
If one knows the grandeur of oneself, one knows the grandeur of all others.
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@Sean Siberio
Since when have alcoholism, crime, drug addiction, obesity, diabetes, poor educational performance, domestic violence, illegitimacy etc. been regarded as "values"?
The things you describe are social ills.
I agree. But my point is that if we take out these things which are not really values, and also exclude middle-class values, then what are we left with as the values of the black underclass (and do they differ in any way from the values of the white or hispanic underclass?)
But to ascribe them as the ideals or desires of those in the black (or any race's) working class is to be ignorant of the fact that most people who are working class do attempt to better themselves. The problem is, in many cases, that their way of improvement is despised, especially when it doesn't mean trading up and buying in.,
OK, but give me an example of a way of imrovement that is an example of a positive (in your opinion) value that does not involve "buying-in" and is distinctively not middle-class either.
Upward mobility, as Lennon once sang, is bumpkis. But solving the issue of a class-riddled society is not on the political agenda of America, and therefore the real elephant in the room, that there will never be enough jobs or opportunity the way things are currently structured, never gets mentioned.
I certainly agree with this. For example, far too many problems in the education system arise because the education system is aimed at preparing children for college, and there ought to be much more of a vocational pathway to develop nonacademic, motor, and technical skills that society values. Even ensuring that every child that leaves school has a solid grounding in basic cooking and baking skills would be immeasurably valuable in improving the eating habits and the health of the nation. Home maintenance skills and a basic understanding of things like painting, plumbing, carpentry, concrete work, and electrical codes would also be most valuable.
I remember being surprised many years ago when I read that a person with an IQ of 100 would only have an expectation of a semi-skilled job. Assuming that this still holds true, then that means that at least half of the population should be provided with an education that is more practical than academic.
Black people in the US are not really held back by discrimination or by lack of opportunity...
Whoops. Have you walked down the streets of Detroit or Chicago's South Side? There's not much economic development going on there, and despite the rhetoric of a "Free" job market, it is neither "Free" to move to where jobs are or to get an education in the skills necessary to get a job.
No, I have never been to South Side Chicago or Detroit, though I highly recommend the CD Jukebox Jazz from the Southside (sic) of Chicago (Empire). But my point would be that the white people--there must be some--who live in that environment probably suffer from the same economic hardships, so this is not really based on selection by color.
I guess it is not free to move to where jobs are, but how much is a bus ticket? And the education--well, last time I checked high school education was free to the consumer (though not to the local tax payer) and relatively cheap techical education is available in Community Colleges.
Quoted from the Washington Post:
"At Northern Virginia Community College, an associate's degree requires around 65 credit hours. The school this year charges $39.45 per credit hour for state residents. At that rate, the tuition for the two-year degree would work out to about $2,564"
Now you still have the cost of books and meals, but most likely the student still lives in the parental home and there are grants and loans available. $5000 amortized over 10 years at 10% would cost $66 per month.
I know you COULD argue that the areas of the US that have the highest black populations are intentionally deprived of economic development funds for building roads, military bases, infrastructure etc., but is this really true? Washington DC has lots of government jobs, but is also notorious for its crime-ridden black ghettos.
While a number of radical black Americans emigrated to Russia in the 1930s and some of their descendants still live there, there is no discernible modern-day mass emigration of blacks out of the United States, which you would expect if skin color made life impossible here.
Another poster mentioned what we need to discuss to move and tackle these issues. I think the issue of class division and a strict economic hierarchy is something that should be put on the plate. It's an old chestnut, yes, one that has been debated and discussed since the beginning of time. But here it is again, and people must deal with it.
True, and our political leaders rarely address these larger issues. They are rather like the city fathers of Jacksonville whom I mentioned in an earlier letter, who parade in the streets with placards saying "Stop The Killing" and then go home well-satisfied with their day's work on behalf of humanity.