[Peace-discuss] [Discuss] [sf-core] Fwd: yesterday's article on massive racial inequality in wealth

Fri May 21 10:53:56 CDT 2010

"US society is much less racist - and much more unequal - than it was 40
years ago"

http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2009/09/04/a-critique-of-walter-benn-michaels/

I really think a lot of white intellectuals like Walter Benn Michaels are
truly out of touch with the way things are in this culture today. While we
do have a black president, we also have a tea party and birther movement
that reflects the ingrained racism that is still prevalent today. The
problem with focusing on class differences alone is it gives white
self-described liberals a free pass to avoid looking at how their own
whiteness (and privilege), plays a role here.

On Fri, May 21, 2010 at 10:36 AM, C. G. ESTABROOK <cge at shout.net> wrote:

> US society is much less racist - and much more unequal - than it was 40
> years ago.
>
> In 1970 the election of a black president was unthinkable, but in that year
> the distribution of wealth (Gini index) was at its least unequal in the 20th
> century. Today it's back to where it was in the late 1920s, and the
> concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands is not only continuing but
> accelerating.
>
> "...anti-racism today performs at least one of the same functions that
> racism used to — it gives us a vision of our society as organized racially
> instead of economically — while adding another function — it insists that
> racism is the great enemy to be overcome. But all the anti-racism in the
> world won't take any money away from the rich and won't give any of it to
> the poor." [Walter Benn Michaels]
>
>
>
> On 5/21/10 9:47 AM, Ricky Baldwin wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Very interesting article. Good points. It's always good for Americans to
>> see this kind of discussion and realize we don't do too well when it
>> comes to this kind of basic economic "fairness," no matter how much the
>> blowhards talk about the "land of opportunity." Our system just doesn't
>> serve most people too well - but then, we know that. It's just good to
>> have the numbers.
>>
>> On the numbers, I have to take issue with the "typical" white/black
>> family stats, though - and not just to be picky with words. I think it
>> gives a false impression.
>>
>> The article doesn't say, but if what's meant is "average" (mean) then it
>> isn't "typical" at all in an economy with vast inequalities like the
>> kind described in the article. We can, and do (as the article points
>> out), have a small number of extremely wealthy people and a huge number
>> of people essentially left out of that massive accumulation. What that
>> amounts to is the "average" (mean) is skewed upwards - making it look
>> like more people are better off than we are.
>>
>> "Typical" here could also be median, a.k.a. the middle number if you
>> arrange all the wealth from highest to lowest, but I doubt it. It seems
>> too high given the inequality the article describes. Even if so, I'd
>> argue that if the range of wealth is very wide, then the median isn't
>> very "typical" either.
>>
>> Maybe I'm missing something. I'm not 100% awake yet.
>>
>> Ricky
>>
>> "Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn
>>
>> --- On *Thu, 5/20/10, Belden Fields /<a-fields at uiuc.edu>/* wrote:
>>
>>
>>    From: Belden Fields <a-fields at uiuc.edu>
>>    Subject: [sf-core] Fwd: yesterday's article on massive racial
>>    inequality in wealth
>>    To: discuss at communitycourtwatch.org
>>    Cc: "SFcore" <sf-core at yahoogroups.com>
>>    Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010, 4:09 PM
>>
>>
>>
>>    Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>     *From: *Lou Kushnick <loukushnick at mac.com
>>>    </mc/compose?to=loukushnick at mac.com>>
>>>
>>>    *Date: *May 20, 2010 2:01:25 AM CDT
>>>    *To: *Arthur Paris <AEParis at maxwell.syr.edu
>>>    </mc/compose?to=AEParis at maxwell.syr.edu>>, Melanie Bush
>>>
>>>    <melanie.e.l.bush at gmail.com
>>>    </mc/compose?to=melanie.e.l.bush at gmail.com>>, "Bowser, Ben"
>>>    <Benjamin.bowser at csueastbay.edu
>>>    </mc/compose?to=Benjamin.bowser at csueastbay.edu>>, Belden Fields
>>>    <a-fields at uiuc.edu </mc/compose?to=a-fields at uiuc.edu>>, Marta Cruz
>>>    Janzen <cruzjanz at fau.edu </mc/compose?to=cruzjanz at fau.edu>>, Gail
>>>    Dines <gdines at wheelock.edu </mc/compose?to=gdines at wheelock.edu>>,
>>>
>>>    Valerie Bristor <bristor at fau.! edu
>>>    </mc/compose?to=bristor at fau.edu>>, Bonnie Muirhead
>>>    <bmuirhead at ccc.edu </mc/compose?to=bmuirhead at ccc.edu>>
>>>
>>>    *Subject: **yesterday's article on massive racial inequality in
>>>    wealth*
>>>
>>>
>>
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