dagblog - Comments for "Responding to Racism"

Was hoping Danny would answer

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 21:17:27 +0000

In reply to My problem with Alexander is

Was hoping Danny would answer, but while Alexander provides some interesting parallels, nothing is proven to any degree, the references are spotty ("read this book" rather than specific data/pages), and the coverage is a huge thoughts-on-racism rather than a focused thesis proving anything well. Drugs have been a problem for black communities since the 30's or earlier. Sure white mafia targetted poor blacks for addiction, and this has continued. But is it government conspiracy?

Worse, she seems to go through every tangent of American racial politics, but can't find the time to discuss the crime epidemic, the murders in black communities, the spread of automatic weapons that alarmed most sensible people white or black, the retreading the irrelevant issue of crack vs powdered coke sentencing (note that household chemicals are perfectly legal until assembled to make a bomb, and light beer from 7-11 can be sold on Sundays while moonshine containing the same alcohol in higher concentration is completely illegal). Alexander never really addresses the fact that blacks really did have the option of not using so many hard drugs, and continues the myth that all the incarceration was over victimless marijuana, vs much more toxic crack which both had a devestating effect on users, but was also the cool trendy currency and rite-of-passage of the gangbangers that were making communities unlivable. The only murders Alexander can address are murders of blacks by whites, and while I'm ferociously upset about the current wave of police brutality, but Alexander's blind spots to black involvement in their own affairs and inabiluty to address the complexities on the road to drawing conclusions make her book next to useless - a good rousing blog perhaps, but with questionable logic, and hardly a masterful academic treatise. As you rmrd have reminded as well, most of the sentencing was at state level, seemingly before Clinton's efforts, but perhaps inspired and largely caused by Reagan's tough approach? Again, it doesnt really show

My problem with Alexander is

rmrd0000 — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 11:49:41 +0000

In reply to Just out of curiosity: has

My problem with Alexander is not her analysis connecting mass incarceration to slavery and Jim Crow. I have no problem with her pointing out that everyone ( black, white, Libersl, Conservative) participated in mass incarceration. I disagree with her analysis about Hillary Clinton. Alexander never fully endorsed Sanders either. The choice was going to be Clinton or Trump. Trump is a disaster.for black people.

Just downloaded and skimmed

PeraclesPlease — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:40:00 +0000

In reply to Just out of curiosity: has

Just downloaded and skimmed it. Before I comment, what do you find wrong in it? (Whatever good you might see in it, I want to hear your thoughts on its flaws, if any)

Just out of curiosity: has

Danny Cardwell — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 01:42:38 +0000

In reply to Responding to Racism

Just out of curiosity: has anyone commenting on Michelle Alexander's book actually read it?

Woke enough to realize long

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 22:30:26 +0000

In reply to Both Cornel West and

Woke enough to realize long before the election, not after. Very nicely written - a number of issues he presents. I don't have to agree with each and every facet, but his voting calculus is interesting for me for a number of reasons, and his tamping down idealism with some intellect is needed.

Both Cornel West and

rmrd0000 — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 13:44:53 +0000

In reply to I think that Michelle

Both Cornel West and Michelle Alexander view Hillary and Trump as identical evils. Trump demonizes Muslims ands wants to take away health care from tens of millions. They are ridiculed because they cannot identify the greater evil. The fact that West had no response to Bill Maher pointing out that Trump was taking away healthcare and that Hillary would not have destroyed Obamacare but made it stronger shows that West is in a bubble. Alexander was stunned that the country that incarcerated blacks as sport elected Trump. If she was that clueless about the danger of Trump, where has she been living. For the most part West and Alexander attend conferences that only give them positive feedback. They are rarely confronted on the consequences of their positions.

Edit to add:

Reed was woke enough to realize, begrudgingly, that Hillary was the better choice.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/08/18/vote-lying-neoliberal-warm...

I don't know much about

ocean-kat — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 06:49:03 +0000

In reply to I think that Michelle

I don't know much about Alexandra but I took a direct quote from her article and I think I critiqued it fairly. Even the best of our intellectuals can get caught up in spinning when they fervently support a candidate. I think her article lacked historical context and nuance. But it would take a significant amount of time to debate it point by point.

I've read West over the years so I can offer a brief criticism of him. Early on found much of value in his writings. When he was discussing social conditions or foreign policy. I never valued his political analysis though and during the Obama years I thought him more than over the top, he often became unhinged. I critiqued Obama often here, there was a lot to criticize, but I thought West became irrational. You may think I don't like him for his support of Sanders and his subsequent endorsement of Stein. I imagine he said a lot of nasty things about Hillary during the campaign, that's his political style. But some years into the Obama presidency I stopped reading him. So I never saw the things he said about Hillary that I'm pretty sure would have pushed me into a rage.

She slandered Clinton(s). And

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 06:01:00 +0000

In reply to Alexander said, like Ta

She slandered Clinton(s). And fuck their "deserve" - Bernie didn't do fuckall compared to her - what, 7 black people in all of Vermont? He never had to deal with competing constituencies in the politcally charged world of racial politics - he was driving go-karts while they were doing Formula One.. Sounds like someone wanted her to crawl on her knees and kiss their ass, not solve real problems. I don't mind "Bernie's better because x, y, z", but this "deserve" shit is a bunch of unserious people pushing some kind of purity partisan bullshit. Well they succeeded - they helped elect Trump, so have all of them crawl the floor and kiss Hillary's ass and say they're sorry. Black guy gets shot in cold blood by a cop - Hillary would say/do something, Trump will do the least useful/most hateful, and Bernie whatever his charms never ever had a real chance. The choices were clear, the results obvious.

Cornel West's long gone from

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 05:52:00 +0000

In reply to I think that Michelle

Cornel West's long gone from Princeton, but I defended his anti-poverty tour (arguin with rmrd, for example) and various other positions, even though as a "serious scholar" he can sometimes be a real clown. Michelle Alexander's less serious despite more professional writing style - she just wanted to be an attack dog and sell books, not find solutions, and she succeeded. A special place in hell indeed - tell me a better advocate for black children and black women that can work the power structure that will come along in the next generation. Instead it'll be Al Sharpton clowning on MSNBC or a bunch of uninterested white politicians more comcerned with "Blue Lives Matter". Screw her, she blew it. Respect? That's Aretha. Someone who hatingly garbles the truth just to climb the money/power tree doesn't "deserve" respect.

1) fuck Ricky Ray Rectir,

PeraclesPlease — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 05:43:33 +0000

In reply to Did executing Ricky Ray

1) fuck Ricky Ray Rectir, thatthat piece of shit - if it gives any joy to his victims' families, white and black, cool. Was bringing him up worth electing Trump who no doubt will increase death and suffering of people worth our sympathy?

2) that's been apologized for dozens of times as a poor overreaction/unacceptable strategy to a pressing national crisis, a strategy made in consort with black community leaders. Do you know anyone else in politics who *sincerely* apologizes for wrong choices? Have you eber once risked saying somerhing even feebly useful you might have done in their place? Oh right, hand everyone $100k and all class probs like gun violence and crack addiction go away.