I’ve abbreviated Meeropol’s commentary below. To his concluding paragraph I add this note to white comrades:
It’s time for US to start consciously modeling in our own practices “Surrender white supremacy” and pausing to ask and answer “what does Equality FEEL like?” in our relations with each other. Too many white progressives including who call ourselves socialists and/or communists believe that because we have been on this or that front line fighting racism, we are exempt from the effect of the embeddedness of white supremacy in America. It affects our relations with Black friends and comrades, and other People of Color; and their’s with us. As the battle against white supremacy goes on, and battles are won, racism mututes; reactionary efforts to restore it change; the front where it is combatted shifts. Black-white friendships, comradeships, alliances and coalitions are jeopardized. One anecdotal example: conversation yesterday with progressive white woman journalist: “I was the ‘go to’ person in this town for Blacks to get their message out; I constantly risked my job to do so, lost my best one. Now I am excluded. And, in a conversation with a Black woman politician yesterday: when I said ‘white working class men feel abandoned’, she said ’they are racists’ and implied I was a racist for feeling that.’ . . . I can understand, she felt 'free at last’ from having to rely on a white woman to get her stories out; but I did feel like a victim of what I’ve argued with white working class men doesn’t exist: ‘reverse racism.’" peggydobbins.net > > > > THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXPANDED VERSION OF A COMMENTARY DELIVERED OVER WAMC-FM > ON FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2020 BY MICHAEL MEEROPOL, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF > ECONOMICS AT WESTERN NEW ENGLAND UNIVERSITY > > > > We white Americans (and I am ashamed to be one of them) have revealed > ourselves as profoundly infected by America’s original sin ---- racism. > > When I was growing up, racism was all about white supremacy over > black Americans. Racism was simple --- it was a black and white thing. > Some of it was vicious --- the Ku Klux Klan, the murder of Emmett Till in > 1956, the brutality of Bull Connor on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Alabama. > However, some of it was more genteel --- at least in speech if not action. > I was hitch-hiking through Texas in 1963 and the young man who gave me a ride > stated that he believed black folks “should know their place” (he used a word > halfway between Negro and the N word!) but, he assured me, “I don’t go for > all this hating!” > > Today it’s more complicated. White folks are ... are worried > about the “browning” of America ... immigration ... Latino and Asian > birthrates. Pressed by the danger of a loss of privileged status …. many > respond with fear (hence massive gun purchases) and anger. .. anger over > loss of white privilege .. has driven the cult..of Trump...,to demonstrate > for the “freedom” not be take necessary precautions to save themselves and > their families from the deadly Coronavirus. ... a pattern of behavior > GUARANTEED to wreak more death and disease on tens of thousands …[and] > disproportionately black and brown citizens --- in essential jobs, unable to > work from home. > > To return to my strong disagreement with the need for all of us to come > together and “heal,” I think some people need to be fought not coddled. The > people who created a caravan of Trump trucks in Texas harassing a Biden > campaign bus, the vigilante who murdered two demonstrators in Kenosha, > Wisconsin, the individuals who conceived of the inhuman child separation > policy at the border and those who carried it out, the Police Union members > who (even if they themselves would never shoot an unarmed black man out of > racist fear or hatred) continue to shield the racist murderers among them --- > all of these are indeed the enemies of all that is good and decent about > America. If there is going to be reconciliation, it is these victims of the > Trump cult who must “reconcile” with full black citizenship and the rising > percentage of immigrants in our society --- The rest of us should make no > effort to “reconcile” with racist America. > > Ironically – the damaged white people of America (and --- let us not forget > that in both 2016 and 2020, Trump won a majority of white voters!) had their > long term health saved by Black Americans in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Detroit > Michigan, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and the Latino voters of > Arizona and Nevada who voted in just enough numbers to guarantee that Trump > would not have four more years to kill Americans with COVID and destroy the > planet with his policies. > > By coming out and voting in large numbers, these courageous black and brown > Americans have proved once again that they love America. I join the great > NBA coach Doc Rivers in wishing OH SO MUCH --- that America would finally > start loving them back > > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#3592): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/3592 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/78293837/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. -=-=- Group Owner: [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/8674936/1316126222/xyzzy [[email protected]] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
