In response to David Strands question about race in Minneapolis.....
There is a fine article in the London Observer entitled "The Paradox That
Divides Black America." It is well worth reading in relation to this
discussion.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1588158,00.html
To sum up: The article traces the economic history of blacks in America. The
rich-poor divide is most extreme in the USA amoung "developed" nations. but
this divide is even more extreme amoung black people in America. Black
people who succeed in America are almost always brought across the divide
segregating poor blacks from the rest of the country. The plight of poor
black people is getting worse, while the token successes are shown as proof
of progress.
My own experience in Minneapolis suggests that we live in a strange kind of
apartheid. I work for some fairly well-to-do folks who live in big houses
by the lakes (Harriet, Calhoun, Isles, and Cedar Lakes). I notice few black
people in these areas. As I work, I often notice that women of color work
as servants in homes, while men of color often cut the grass.
The only men of color I've seen working in these homes are men from Africa
working as aides to care for wealthy elderly people who can afford personal
round-the-clock care. Even so, I've rarely seen men of color working inside
homes in wealthier neighborhoods. Women of color: yes. Men of color: no.
I think that there is a terrible divide in our culture which we do not
acknowledge. Men of color are supposedly no longer slaves, but why then are
so many in prison?
The Observer quotes poet Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore - And then
run?"
And if dreams deferred fester like sores, these sores infect us all. The
consequences will not likely be contained apartheid-like in the poor parts
of town. It is important to note that our federal government wants to be
able to use troops and mercenaries to patrol the streets of our cities in
emergencies.
How many of Blackwater's mercenaries are black men? Is there a racial
divide there as well? The day is not far off when frightened white
Minneapolitans and a few wealthy black people clamor for federal troops and
mercenaries to maintain "law and order" in Minneapolis. How many
"terrorists" will be disappeared, do you suppose? What will be done with
them? Will the corporate "looters" scare people with stories of poor black
"looters" getting out of the bounds of the poor neighborhoods?
-- pedaling for peace and ecojustice from Lynnhurst (Lynhurst?) for now --
Gary Hoover
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