“Personal anecdotes don’t prove anything. The justice system isn’t racist. Black people are arrested more often because they commit more crime. Period. End of story.” So read the message in my inbox this morning, sent by someone who had happened across my essay about Ferguson, the grand jury decision in the Darren Wilson case, and […]
He was no angel. That’s the refrain, repeated for over two months on social media by defenders of Officer Darren Wilson, convinced that Michael Brown was little more than a violent and dangerous thug, worthy of death that August day in Ferguson. From the beginning, Brown’s strong-arm theft of cigars from a local market was […]
The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Culture of Cruelty: How America’s Elite Demonize the Poor, Valorize the Rich and Jeopardize the Future (San Francisco: City Lights, 2015) This section explores the way that many (especially on the right) downplay or dismiss the problem of poverty and the hardship faced by the […]
Poor Bill O’Reilly. I mean, it’s not as if we should actually expect him to know anything about black people or black culture in America. This is the guy, you’ll recall, who was actually amazed — amazed — a few years ago when he went to Sylvia’s restaurant in Harlem, only to discover that black […]
Predictably, white conservatives are at it again: blaming black people specifically, and black culture more broadly, for various crises facing the African American communities of this nation. In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, and black anger over the racial suspicions that animated Zimmerman’s decision to follow Trayvon Martin the night he was killed […]
But what about us? It’s a question of which white folks seem never to tire when discussing subjects like affirmative action, or other diversity initiatives intended to expand opportunity and access for people of color in higher education and the job market. Whenever these matters are broached, the vast majority of us rush to protest: […]
My presentation at All Saints Church, Pasadena, CA, 4/28/13, to discuss the normalization of inequality, and the intersectionality of race, sex, class, militarism, terrorism and environmental catastrophe
Back in November, 2011, I was approached by A.R. Ward, a blogger over at Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment site, and asked if I would be interested in engaging in a debate or dialogue of sorts, regarding the issue of race and racism in America. I knew of A.R. only because, for the previous several months, he […]
Here is my 2010 MLK Day Speech at Fountain Baptist Church in Summit, NJ. I posted this before, but I have just started using Soundcloud and uploading audio files there, so because this one sometimes doesn’t work on the old server where it was located, I have put it here.
This commentary is rated MA for mature audiences. It contains some foul language, although honestly, only so much as is needed to get the damned point across. Parental discretion is advised… Attention to all self-proclaimed liberals and progressives. I would like to properly introduce you to a man about whom you’ve heard much — especially […]
