In the Huffington Post, John Halstead offers a concise account of why white people should NOT respond to the Black Lives Matter movement by reacting with "All Lives Matter." He offers a number of common sense analyses of the illogic of such responses, and suggests they come largely from the discomfort white people feel in having to admit that racism still shapes American life.
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Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Has Whiteness Lost Its Privilege?
In a recent article in the New Yorker, Hua Hsu discusses the question of whether the economic plight of lower-class whites has wiped out their racial privilege and given rise to a new form of white identity politics. Many such whites, especially men, express anger at the notion that they are privileged and resent what they see as special treatment of "minorities." It has been reported that such men form a core constituency for Donald Trump. Is their perception of oppression accurate, or do they merely miss the dominant role that racial privilege once afforded them? The article draws directly on the new book by Nancy Isenberg, White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America. Widely-praised, Isenberg's book has also been criticized for discussing the working class as if it were only white.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
"Campus Reform" runs article about this web site.
Campus Reform article about this web site.
The conservative-learning web magazine has written a description and analysis of my web site, perhaps because of the growing debate over race and Black Lives Matter on campus. While the article itself is not a vicious attack, the hate mail I am receiving shows how deeply racist feelings run in the United States among defensive "white" people.
The conservative-learning web magazine has written a description and analysis of my web site, perhaps because of the growing debate over race and Black Lives Matter on campus. While the article itself is not a vicious attack, the hate mail I am receiving shows how deeply racist feelings run in the United States among defensive "white" people.
Thursday, July 14, 2016
White Delusions About Racial Injustice-Op Ed by Nicholas Kristof
Extract:
n 1962, 85 percent of white Americans told Gallup that black children had as good a chance as white kids of getting a good education. The next year, in another Gallup survey, almost half of whites said that blacks had just as good a chance as whites of getting a job.
In retrospect, we can see that these white beliefs were delusional, and in other survey questions whites blithely acknowledged racist attitudes. In 1963, 45 percent said that they would object if a family member invited a black person home to dinner.
This complacency among us white Americans has been a historical constant. Even in the last decade, almost two-thirds of white Americans have said that blacks are treated fairly by the police, and four out of five whites have said that black children have the same chance as white kids of getting a good education. In short, the history of white Americans’ attitudes toward race has always been one of self-deception.
Extract:
n 1962, 85 percent of white Americans told Gallup that black children had as good a chance as white kids of getting a good education. The next year, in another Gallup survey, almost half of whites said that blacks had just as good a chance as whites of getting a job.
In retrospect, we can see that these white beliefs were delusional, and in other survey questions whites blithely acknowledged racist attitudes. In 1963, 45 percent said that they would object if a family member invited a black person home to dinner.
This complacency among us white Americans has been a historical constant. Even in the last decade, almost two-thirds of white Americans have said that blacks are treated fairly by the police, and four out of five whites have said that black children have the same chance as white kids of getting a good education. In short, the history of white Americans’ attitudes toward race has always been one of self-deception.