[Peace-discuss] Anti-racism

Marti Wilkinson martiwilki at gmail.com
Sat Mar 7 05:49:18 CST 2009 

The problem with being an advocate for social justice and empowerment is it
may also end up inadvertently lend itself to what a professor of mine called
"privileging the discourse" - For example if a person lives in Garden Hills
or the Douglass Park neighborhood it can be problematic when anyone decides
these are parts of the community in need of 'fixing'. One time I posted some
concerns about plans in the Garden Hills area and some of the feedback I
received was so condescending as to make me want to retch. On another
occasion I was talking with a woman who attended the U of I and chose to
wear a head scarf as a show of modesty, she said she found it offensive when
people responded to her as some poor oppressed Muslim woman.

My idea as to what it means to be empowered may not be the same as that of
other individuals in this forum and that is perfectly fine. That being said
I also think that part of advocating for social justice is being willing to
deconstruct ones own privilege and taking a look at oneself. While I can't
address Ricky's comments directly, there is a sentiment or tone that I can
relate to - because there seems to be an effort to pontificate on, instead
of really understanding a particular issue or subject matter. Furthermore,
why should someone who has some privilege even attempt to 'speak for'
marginalized groups? This is a tricky situation and one where a road to hell
can be paved with good intentions.



On Fri, Mar 6, 2009 at 9:25 PM, unionyes <unionyes at ameritech.net> wrote:

> Ricky, et al,
>
> Carl and his wife live a comfortable middle class life.
>
> I don't think they should have to appologize for that,
>
> They have had the blessings of the perfect triad ; hard work, intelligence,
> and luck.
>
> What makes them special, is that they could easily take the attitude that
> anyone not like them are losers !
>
> Carl's wife works MANY hours at the Catholic Worker  House helping and
> feeding the poor ( which could be any of us and many of us if economic
> conditions deteriorate badly enough ).
> Carl and his wife are NOT just about advocating charity, but ENPOWERMENT as
> well !
>
> I must say though, Carl is a " class traitor ", that is, a traitor to the
> ruling class !
> And I love him for it !
>
> It is admirable that Carl is not ashamed of his Irish working class roots,
> who ( the Irish ) were exploited and worked to death for little
> compensation, like African Americans, Eastern Eurpopeans, and multitudes of
> others in the plantation they call America.
>
> If Carl was like many people in this society, he would cover-up his working
> class heritage, but instead he acknowledges it and learns from it, to
> critique the current remnants of the plantation mentality / imperialist
> institutional structure in this society.
> Even if we may disagree at times with some of his views, we should respect
> him for the time and effort he puts into ;  articulating, analyzing, and
> advocating for a better country and a better world, for ALL of us.
>
> My hat is off to Carl and his wonderful wife for being who they are and
> doing what so few are willing to do in contemporary America.... " walk it
> like they talk it " !
>
> They can't help the way they are, and I am honored to know them !
>
> David Johnson
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "C. G. Estabrook" <
> galliher at illinois.edu>
> To: "Ricky Baldwin" <baldwinricky at yahoo.com>
> Cc: "peace-discuss" <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
> Sent: Friday, March 06, 2009 8:06 PM
>
> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Anti-racism
>
>
>  Ricky Baldwin wrote:
>> > Carl,
>> >
>> > I've been to your house, seen your car in the lot.
>> > When it comes to the reckoning you get diddly squat.
>>
>> Ricky--
>>
>> Reading "I have" for "I've" and "reck'ning" for "reckoning," you have a
>> couplet in anapestic tetrameter.  (Cf. Byron's "The Destruction of
>> Sennacherib":
>>
>>    The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
>>    And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold
>>    And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea
>>    When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.)
>>
>> And your couplet makes me think, in verse, why I left my island home in
>> Massachusetts:
>>
>>    There once was a man from Nantucket
>>    Who kept all his cash in a bucket.
>>    But his daughter, named Nan,
>>    Ran away with a man
>>    And as for the bucket, Nantucket.
>>
>> (Which reminds me -- I should call my financial advisor, Bernie Madoff --
>> "Thanks to you, I'm considered well to do.")
>>
>> ------------
>>
>> My Attorney Bernie
>>
>>  I'm impressed, with my attorney Bernie
>>  I'm impressed, with his influential friends
>>  He's got very big connections
>>  and I follow his directions
>>  Bernie knows his way around
>>  and so I always do what Bernie recommends.
>>
>>  I am blessed, with my attorney Bernie
>>  I'm impressed, with the way he runs the store
>>  He's got Dodger season boxes
>>  and an office full of foxes
>>  It's amazing all the different things
>>  your average guy might need a lawyer for.
>>
>>  (chorus)
>>
>>  Bernie tells me what to do
>>  Bernie always lays it on the line
>>  Bernie says we sue, we sue
>>  Bernie says we sign -- we sign.
>>
>>  I'm in touch, with my attorney Bernie
>>  In a clutch, he can speed right to the scene
>>  and if I'm locked up in the jail
>>  with just one phone call for my bail
>>  he said to call his club collect
>>  or deal directly with his answering machine
>>
>>  When I dine, with my attorney Bernie
>>  He buys wine, from the rare imported rack
>>  That's cause Bernie is a purist
>>  not your polyester tourist
>>  Bernie waves the glass around awhile
>>  then takes a sip and always sends it back
>>
>>  (chorus)
>>
>>  I admire, my attorney Bernie
>>  I admire, any guy who knows his stuff
>>  Sure we blew a couple ventures
>>  with a counterfeit debenture
>>  But you win a few, you lose a few
>>  and like Bernie says you keep on hanging tough
>>
>>  Thanks to you, my attorney Bernie
>>  Thanks to you, I'm considered well to do
>>  Sure I made out like a bandit
>>  Just exactly like you planned it
>>  But like Murray my accountant
>>  told me yesterday, I owe it all to you.
>>
>>  (chorus)
>>
>>  On the dotted line!
>>
>>  (Words and Music: Dave Frishberg)
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> *From:* C. G. Estabrook <galliher at illinois.edu>
>>> *To:* naiman.uiuc at gmail.com
>>> *Cc:* peace-discuss <peace-discuss at anti-war.net>
>>> *Sent:* Thursday, March 5, 2009 5:03:20 PM
>>> *Subject:* Re: [Peace-discuss] Anti-racism
>>>
>>> I get something because my Irish great-grandfather was an exploited
>>> laborer in
>>> 19c. Pennsylvania?
>>>
>>> There is (practically) no legal discrimination or popular prejudice
>>> against
>>> Irish-Americans today (altho' I could tell you stories from New
>>> England...).
>>>
>>>
>>> Robert Naiman wrote:
>>>  > I have no problem with making a distinction between legal structures
>>> and popular attitudes. I was making a different point: that the categories
>>> of "legal structures" and "popular attitudes" don't cover "racism," unless
>>> one expands the categories of "legal structures" and "popular attitudes" to
>>> include the absence of redress, since there are tendencies for disparities
>>> created in the past to be self-perpetuating, even in the absence of legal
>>> discrimination and popular prejudice.
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  > On Thu, Mar 5, 2009 at 2:53 PM, C. G. Estabrook <
>>> galliher at illinois.edu <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>>  >> It's worthwhile to distinguish between legal structures and popular
>>> attitudes, even if there are areas where they shade into one another (e.g.,
>>>  >>  the non-enforcement of anti-discrimination laws, or prejudicial
>>> police practice). The same is true of night and day.
>>>  >>
>>>  >> The civil rights movement ended legal segregation and contributed to
>>> conscientization of some regarding racial prejudice. For others, it
>>> increased racial prejudice (e.g., whites who concluded "the government does
>>>  >>  everything for black people!").
>>>  >>
>>>  >> The latter reaction was encouraged by the long-standing elite
>>> strategy of playing upon divisions in the working class -- and race was
>>> always a potent
>>>  >>  division, as limited success of 20th-century union organizing in the
>>> South
>>>  >>  shows.
>>>  >>
>>>  >> Jay Gould, American financier at the turn of the last century,
>>> remarked, "I
>>>  >>  can always hire one-nalf of the American working class to kill the
>>> other half."  He was not referring specifically to race, but it helped.
>>> --CGE
>>>  >>
>>>  >>
>>>  >> Robert Naiman wrote:
>>>  >>> "legal" seems too narrow. economic discrimination can persist in the
>>> absence of laws enforcing discrimination. in fact, discrimination can
>>> persist without being strongly reinforced by censorious attitudes, through
>>> customs and practices that may seem nominally neutral but have the effect of
>>> reproducing existing disparities.
>>>  >>>
>>>  >>> for example: a legacy of British colonial policies in Northern
>>> Ireland was that Protestant workers disproportionately held factory jobs. a
>>> foreman comes before the workers and says,"we have a few openings." workers
>>> tell friends, neighbors, cousins. as a result, the applicant pool
>>>  >>>  is all Protestants, and only Protestants get the jobs. no law said
>>> only Protestants would get the jobs. and censorious attitudes didn't have to
>>> be particularly strong for people to spread the news to their social circles
>>> which happened to be overwhelmingly Protestant. in such a situation, you
>>> would need affirmative action for redress. it isn't sufficient to say, there
>>> are no discriminatory laws, and the censorious attitudes aren't so bad.
>>>  >>>
>>>  >>>
>>>  >>> On Wed, Mar 4, 2009 at 8:23 PM, C. G. Estabrook <
>>> galliher at illinois.edu <mailto:galliher at illinois.edu>> wrote:
>>>  >>>> [Racism refers to legal structures that penalize groups defined by
>>> descent. Racial prejudice refers to censorious attitudes towards groups
>>>  >>>>  defined by descent.  Both are present in Israel. Racism, but not
>>>  >>>> racial prejudice, is now largely absent in the US (altho' some,
>>> like
>>>  >>>> native Americans, may justly not think so).  --CGE]
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> March 4, 2009 SEGREGATION IN ISRAEL
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> Israeli Association for Civil Rights
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> Some 55 percent of Jewish Israelis say that the state should
>>> encourage
>>>  >>>>  Arab emigration;
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> 78 percent of Jewish Israelis oppose including Arab parties in the
>>> government;
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> 56 percent agree with the statement that 'Arabs cannot attain the
>>> Jewish level of cultural development'
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> 75 percent agree that Arabs are inclined to be violent. Among
>>> Arab-Israelis, 54 percent feel the same way about Jews.
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> 75 percent of Israeli Jews say they would not live in the same
>>> building
>>>  >>>>  as Arabs.
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>> http://prorev.com/2009/03/segregation-in-israel.html_______________________________________________ Peace-discuss mailing list
>>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net <mailto:
>>> Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>>> http://lists.chambana.net/cgi-bin/listinfo/peace-discuss
>>>  >>>>
>>>  >>>
>>>  >>>
>>>  >
>>>  >
>>>  >
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>>
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