This is part one of a two-part series on racism on the right and left of the United States’ political/ideological spectrum. Part One provides the reader with a working definition of racism, and then explores how racism at both the ideological and institutional levels is connected to and enhanced by American conservatism. Part Two will […]
There is none so dangerous as the white American who waxes nostalgic about what he or she likes to call “the good old days.” Or, alternately, those “simpler” times, or the era of so-called “innocence” remembered from their childhoods, memorialized in a Norman Rockwell painting, or via televised re-runs of the Cleaver family, or Opie […]
Today is a glorious day indeed. First, our youngest daughter began kindergarten this morning, amidst great excitement and enthusiasm, and was walked to her classroom by her big sister (in 2nd grade), who felt especially “adult” for getting to do that, I’m sure. And secondly, because yesterday afternoon, Rush Limbaugh attacked me on air. The […]
Rush Limbaugh attacks Tim Wise, August 17, 2009. Check it out! And then read Tim’s reply.
Recently, after a presentation to teachers about racial bias in high school curricula, I got into a tiny spat with an instructor who objected to my using the word “holocaust” to describe the process by which nearly 99% of indigenous Americans perished from the 1400s to the present day. He also objected to the use […]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Thirteen years ago, when I first started out on the lecture circuit, speaking about the issue of racism, it seemed as though everywhere I went, someone wanted to know my opinion of Louis Farrakhan. To some extent, this was to be expected, I suppose. It […]
For most white folks, indignation fits about as well as a cardigan sweater accidentally placed in the washer then dried on high heat. Sadly, having long remained silent in the face of (and having even supported) so much injustice over the years in this country — including the genocidal extermination of indigenous persons, the enslavement […]
Published on Counterpunch, www.counterpunch.org, 8/10/05 All I wanted was a lousy beer. OK, a few lousy beers. Is that too much to ask? Of course, I suppose it was partly my fault. After all, I had taken my laptop with me into the bar, having just come from the library, where I’d spent the day […]
Published on Counterpunch, www.counterpunch.org, 2/9/05 I should have known better than to listen in to the conversation immediately to my left, sitting as I was in the Northwest Airlines World Club, in Detroit. Unlike most of the folks who have paid their $450 for an annual membership — which entitles one to little more than […]
Published on ZNet, www.zmag.org, 5/13/04 Though I have little faith in his ability to detect (or even define) irony, it would be interesting to know what the President thinks about the decision to reopen the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till in Mississippi, in 1955. Especially since Mr. Bush has spent the better part […]
