Here’s a sentence I never thought I’d write, at least not as soon as I am now compelled to write it: It may well be the case that the United States is on its way to electing a person of color as President. Make no mistake, I realize the way that any number of factors, [...]
When it gets down to it, most opposition to immigration has nothing to do with the legality or illegality of those entering the United States. After all, if obeying the law were the real issue, there would be a simple way to satisfy those who claim they only want to make sure immigration is done [...]
The electronic messages I receive from overt racists would be hilarious were they not so sad, so indicative of an inability to do basic research, interpret data once discovered and then fashion an intelligible argument. That the American educational system is failing may be a matter for open debate, but on this score–its success or [...]
“The price the white American paid for his ticket was to become white…This incredibly limited, not to say dimwitted ambition has choked many a human being to death here: and this, I contend, is because the white American has never accepted the real reasons for his journey. I know very well that my ancestors had [...]
Published on Black Commentator.com, July 13, 2006 Dear Sheriff Strain, I always liked Slidell, even before Lucinda Williams sang about going there to “look for (her) joy.” And my fond feelings for the town were rekindled recently when I discovered that Grayson Capps–with whom I went to Tulane in the late ’80s, and who’s quite [...]
Published as a ZNet Daily Commentary, July 7, 2006 It seems as though whenever black folks do something wrong, everyone hears about it. If gang violence heats up in America’s inner cities, for example, you can bet it’ll be front-page news. Unacceptably high dropout rates? Yep, you can read all about it, and even hear [...]
An Online Debate With John “Birdman” Bryant The following is an online “debate” between Tim Wise and John “Birdman” Bryant, concerning an article written by Wise, to which Bryant responded. Bryant is an internet-based commentator on issues of race, whose perspective is decidedly racist, white supremacist and anti-Jewish. In addition to spinning yarns about the [...]
Published on Counterpunch, www.counterpunch.org, 6/15/05 During my days as a college activist, organizing against U.S. and corporate support for apartheid, I can recall the way in which many students, despite agreeing with the goal of our coalition (namely, divestment from firms that were complicit with the racist government in South Africa), refused to sign any [...]
Published in The Black Commentator, May 19, 2005, Issue 139, www.blackcommentator.org “It’s the crime stupid!” Thus read the first line of an e-mail I received a few weeks ago. This particular love note came from someone who had run across an old article of mine in which I had discussed racism in the criminal justice [...]
By Tim Wise and Molly Secours Published in the Nashville Tennessean, 2/9/05 Combing through headlines in the paper can be like trolling past a nine-vehicle pile-up. You know if you look it’s going to be gruesome, but you peek anyway. Such is the case with most any op-ed by Tim Chavez. Typical of the Tennessean’s [...]
