Can... can you or someone else here explain the tone of this piece? Specifically, the laid-back, sorrowful, "that's a shame" approach when something as abhorrently regressive as this deserves the severest of criticism? I'm sorry -- no, wait, I'm not -- but saying that some people are still afraid of non-segregation is not an excuse for this behaviour! And is this church getting any government dollars? Any at all? Because if it is, it sure as hell shouldn't be.
Okay, I'm sorry for this much: I'm sorry your country is so often goddamn ass-backwards with its priorities. This article makes me SICK. What is this, the 1950s?
A month or so ago I was listening to the Randi Rhodes show and one of her guests (can't remember who) said the wedge issue had already been chosen for the 2006 by those who control the media, and it's race wars. When Randi said something about Mexicans and immigration, the guest said, no, it would be blacks vs. whites. Which struck me as very odd at the time -- of course there's still lots of racism going on, obviously, but for it to be the hot issue seemed bizarre at the time. Now suddenly there's this Racist Survivor season, black girls sitting on the back of the bus, blacks being banned from a church.
I don't know what to make of it, I don't know what's going on, but it's something...and that guest knew what he was talking about. Who gains from this? I don't get it.
I've only read a few pages from A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, but he proposes that the overclass (i.e., rich landowners) always benefits from the underclass being rent by race issues. I'm inclined to agree.
Politicians, oil companies, big business and their predatory practices.
Housing prices are up, gas prices up, electric prices are up - which means the price for everything is going up. The gap in real income continues to shrink, as does the middle class and what the middle class can afford. Crime has risen. All of these are national trends.
Yet many people blind, unthinking idiots have a two word explanation - "Katrina people." Hell, even in places which aren't Houston or Atlanta or Bataon Rouge (where, to hear people speak, if you stub your toe it is the fault of a Katrina survivor) people are bitching about the vast amount's of money that are going to "Katrina people" and "New Orleans" (without bothering to check where the money earmarked is actually going or to compare it to ooh, wars in the Middle East which are draining the economy).
About a year ago the nation was exposed to the depths of racism and classism that exist in this country, kinda hard to pretend it doesn't exist. So those who are benefitting from the status quo are embracing it (or at least promoting the fringes who embrace it, since with that sort of blatant discrimination all someone has to do is promote things as they are now instead of pushing for progress to look non-racist - at least among the majority who seem to prefer blindness to justice.)
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Date: 2006-08-27 07:05 pm (UTC)Okay, I'm sorry for this much: I'm sorry your country is so often goddamn ass-backwards with its priorities. This article makes me SICK. What is this, the 1950s?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-27 08:59 pm (UTC)I don't know what to make of it, I don't know what's going on, but it's something...and that guest knew what he was talking about. Who gains from this? I don't get it.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-28 02:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-28 01:19 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-28 10:06 pm (UTC)Politicians, oil companies, big business and their predatory practices.
Housing prices are up, gas prices up, electric prices are up - which means the price for everything is going up. The gap in real income continues to shrink, as does the middle class and what the middle class can afford. Crime has risen. All of these are national trends.
Yet many
peopleblind, unthinking idiots have a two word explanation - "Katrina people." Hell, even in places which aren't Houston or Atlanta or Bataon Rouge (where, to hear people speak, if you stub your toe it is the fault of a Katrina survivor) people are bitching about the vast amount's of money that are going to "Katrina people" and "New Orleans" (without bothering to check where the money earmarked is actually going or to compare it to ooh, wars in the Middle East which are draining the economy).About a year ago the nation was exposed to the depths of racism and classism that exist in this country, kinda hard to pretend it doesn't exist. So those who are benefitting from the status quo are embracing it (or at least promoting the fringes who embrace it, since with that sort of blatant discrimination all someone has to do is promote things as they are now instead of pushing for progress to look non-racist - at least among the majority who seem to prefer blindness to justice.)