The enormity of the last 24 hours is just catching up to me, this morning.
I woke to my alarm, smiling at my last thought before I went to sleep "Everything just changed, today".

My walk to the train was punctuated by people lined up at the newspaper truck as they added more papers to the box, because people were buying them as fast as they put them in. On my train, almost everyone had a smile on their face.

I generally don't discuss politics at work, because those divisions undermine the teamwork we have to maintain to get the job done. Today, we the formerly hopeful, speak without words. A look, a sly smile, the light in their eyes, says more to me today than I would have thought possible, yesterday.

The smile on my face will not go away. I still can't believe after all this struggle... That we now have a President who has an idea of what real people face, AND a president who is more like me, than any one prior.

I'm awestruck. No matter how much I hoped... How much I believed... I never thought I would see this day.

Thanks DU for helping make this front page possible.

(and for keeping me sane, for what seems like the last million years.)

and said something else.

As said, much better than I could, by salin:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

treestar has spoken...

"Save it for the Klan"
As one of "these" people I find this particular comment disgustingly, dismissive and insensitive of you.
Your choice of words is stunning. As if the Klan was the only thing I had to worry about.

"Quit with this and start accepting whites as equals rather than letting them think themselves superior by inferring that they have so much power over you and that they are so much better off. It's time to stand up and fight back rather than just being a victim."

This conversation is being had because we do want to be treated as equals. It's not a matter of "us" thinking that "they" are better. We want "them" to understand "us", or at least to make the attempt. Maybe actually telling people what we see might lead to that understanding. "save it for the Klan" and "quit whining" do nothing of the sort. Your "orders" are part of the problem.

Doesn't standing up and fighting back require what's happening here? Standing up and acknowledging the issue, and trying to fix it? And your basically telling us to STFU does exactly what again?

I really have just about had it with people trying to dictate how this conversation should go.
You don't have that right. Your assumption that your orders are necessary (as if we have no clue what we're talking about), or warranted (as if we need your permission), is incorrect.
Stop trying to give orders and listen for a change.


"There must be some comfort in saying all whites are privileged and racist, but while there may be an advantage to being born into the middle class, not every white person is."

And here I am, black born into the middle class. And yet, somehow I still experience the same things spoken of here. No comfort in that. But hey, if those assumptions make you feel better, then read no further. This thread is not for you.

Way up in the thread there are conversations about class and it's relation to this issue. Check em out, then come back and say something that actually adds to the conversation. Oh and read the article too, that might help as well.




M0rpheus - Maybe if I hit my head against this wall a few more times, the world will be a better place.

Another liberal technique is to eschew a discussion of race in favor of one of "class." The implicit, and sometimes explicit, argument is that race (or "identity politics") holds the Left back from what actually oppresses people and furthermore assumes that constructions of class and race are separate, rather than dynamically intertwined. Historian Robin Kelley critiques such an either-class-or-race construction in Yo' Mama's Disfunktional!: Fighting the Culture Wars in Urban America:

The idea that race, gender and sexuality are particular whereas class is universal not only presumes that class struggle is some sort of race- and gender-neutral terrain but takes for granted that movements focused on race, gender or sexuality necessarily undermine class unity and, by definition, cannot be emancipatory for the whole.

Race determines how class (and gender) is experienced and vice versa. (Isn't that what this conversation about immigration and a "guest workers" program is about?) Furthermore, there is a failure to integrate racial analysis on the parts of mainstream feminist and gay rights organizations. A cursory look at mainstream gay and lesbian and feminist commentators reveals that while a gender analysis might be a part of their ethos, anti-racism is not. Arguing for primacy of dismantling one hierarchy over another, or simply leaving one out, is a limited and ultimately doomed strategy for liberation.


Ding!
I was reading through the article again, and this one just jumped out at me.
Kind of interesting...

Is the thing that frustrates me more than anything else, on this issue.


I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but I do expect intelligent conversation if you have to make a contribution.
The false arguments and feigned indignity at what I (I can only speak for myself) experience every day gets tiresome. The dismissiveness angers me.
I can almost see eyes glazing over at the mere thought that "we're talking about this, again".

Maybe I'm just feeling a bit "uppity" about the whole thing today but damn, what do you have to do for someone to catch a clue?

No one is trying to corner the market on misery (I have more than enough). No one is whining and pointing fingers.
It's easy to admit that it's similar for GLBT, women, other people of color, and poor people. Personally, I can only identify with some of that, but at least I try to understand the issues of other people.

I read, I educate myself and, I try to make a small difference somewhere... to someone. But in the end, I'm still the guy in the suit failing to get a cab in the middle of downtown, in broad daylight.
It's discouraging, to say the least.

But "it's just human nature", and maybe if I just shut up about it, it'll spontaneously get better, all by itself.
You'll have to pardon me if I refuse to accept those small pearls of "wisdom". The conversation is not yours to guide but, if you listen, you might actually learn something.


I really wish this conversation could go a little bit more towards someone understanding. Sadly, it always ends up the same way here.
Damned windmills!






A note that should have come first in this post: Thanks for the encouragement, Karenina. It does mean something.