The message began ominously enough, with words no one really likes to hear directed their way. “With all due respect,” it read. As a writer I am painfully aware of the imprecision of language. Meaning is not always perfectly–and often not at all–communicated by the words we choose to represent our thoughts. But if there’s [...]
Author Tim Wise debates the racial meaning, if any, of the election of Barack Obama. He suggests that American society may be farther away from racial equity than many would think. The book launch event in San Francisco was held at the publisher’s book store, City Lights. Watch full video
As kids go, the two upon whom I have managed to bestow my last name are pretty awesome. Yet, as with all children, there are things they do–as part of the natural process of ego development–that drive me nuts. For instance, the eldest, though she is normally kind and supportive, occasionally drifts into the irritating [...]
In the mid-1990s, I was a community organizer in New Orleans, working with low-income families to oppose cuts in the nation’s social safety net. Often, if I told other white folks about my job, they would roll their eyes and complain that blacks were “looking for handouts.” What’s more, they would blame me for enabling [...]
“How dare you say this is about racism!” And a pleasant Monday to you too sunshine, I thought, as I stared at my computer screen this morning, reading over the first e-mail of the day. It was from someone who had apparently seen my presentation on CNN last night, in which I explained why racism [...]
Throughout the first six months of his administration, President Obama–perhaps one of the most politically cautious leaders in contemporary history–has been routinely portrayed as a radical by his opponents on the far-right. In particular, persons who have apparently never actually studied Marxism (or if they did, managed to somehow find therein support for such things [...]
As someone who writes regularly on the subject of white privilege, I am often electronically attacked by those who insist that the very notion of such a thing is a mere figment of my imagination: well, mine, and that of all the other “race hustlers” out there. “Don’t you know that millions of white people [...]
If hypocrisy were currency, conservatives would be able to single-handedly bail out the nation’s free-falling financial system in less than a week, without the rest of us having to front so much as a penny. So on the one hand, folks like this always tell others–especially the poor and people of color–to take “personal responsibility” [...]
Previously (and briefly) titled, “The Ugly Side of Disaster: Racism and the Calculus of Comparative Suffering” Disasters bring out the best and worst in people. On the one hand, millions of folks respond to the suffering of their fellow human beings with compassion, concern, and even significant financial assistance when needed. Be it a hurricane, [...]
