What do you do when research consistently comes up with a result that is explanatory but politically incendiary–data that enrages the very people who need to be calmed down?
Anyone who followed the trajectory of the Trump campaign recognized the degree to which racial animus suffused it. That animus wasn’t a surprise; it had been stoked by the behavior of Republicans during Obama’s Presidency–the intransigence of the Congressional GOP, and the eruption of “birthers” and conspiracy theorists and garden-variety racists among the base.
As my youngest son says, there were only two kinds of voters who cast ballots for Trump: unapologetic racists and voters for whom Trump’s bigotry wasn’t considered disqualifying.
The degree to which racial resentment influenced Trump voters has been confirmed in study after study. Vox recently reported on a survey of the minority of millennials who voted for Trump.
Even when controlling for partisanship, ideology, region and a host of other factors, white millennials fit Michael Tesler’s analysis, explored here. As he put it, economic anxiety isn’t driving racial resentment; rather, racial resentment is driving economic anxiety. We found, as he has in a larger population, that racial resentment is the biggest predictor of white vulnerability among white millennials. Economic variables like education, income and employment made a negligible difference.
To anyone who’s been following the research on this, the findings should come as little surprise. There have now been numerous studies that found support for Trump is closely linked to racial resentment, defined by Fowler, Medenica, and Cohen as “a moral feeling that blacks violate such traditional American values as individualism and self-reliance.”
The article reviewed a number of previous studies that have come to a similar conclusion. (I’m aware of several others) The author argued that it is important to understand the increased role racism plays in today’s politics in order to counter it–that those of us who are less threatened by the waning of white privilege should have “empathetic discussions” with Trump supporters in order to reduce their levels of fear and resentment.
Somehow, I doubt that a frank-but-“empathetic” discussion that begins with one person saying “I know your vote was racially motivated” is going to end well.
That is the dilemma. It really didn’t take a multitude of studies to see where Trump’s appeal lay. All it took was a look at his rhetoric and the composition of his rally crowds. The question is: what do we do about it?
Racial bias has always been there (Southern Strategy anyone?), but the studies indicate that it has spiked–leading to the election of a man who constantly feeds it.
The election of a black President was a shock to many people who held negative racial attitudes but had felt it prudent to suppress their expression. The prospect of a majority-minority country by 2040 or so, the sudden ubiquity of “uppity” women, same-sex marriage…all these things destroyed their complacent belief that straight white Christian men would always be in charge.
All the empathy in the world isn’t going to make African-Americans “know their place,” return women to the kitchen and nursery, and put gays back in the closet. The pace of social and technological change isn’t suddenly going to abate. The progress that terrifies Trump voters may slow, but it is unlikely to reverse.
An older lawyer with whom I practiced many years ago used to say that there is only one legal question: what do we do?
“What do we do?” is the question Americans of good will face now, and I doubt that “empathy” –no matter how appropriate–is the answer.
The good news is that there are many more Americans who don’t vote their fears and resentments than there are those who do. While we wait for the hate and fear to subside–and they eventually will– we need to redouble our efforts to get those voters to the polls.
Perhaps we should study how well Cambridge Analytica was able to motivate those who were racially biased.
Fear and love are the two major emotions of which all decisions are made. We are not going eliminate fear in the human being.
We can temper it with more love, which is what true leaders deliver. We’ll never see a true leader emerge in this country while it is ruled by the Donor Class.
Look at the Democratic Party’s platform…listen to their politicians. Bernie Sanders is the closest elected official I’ve witnessed in a long time which is why he is the most popular politician today.
The media won’t embrace him because of his economic advocacies. Tulsi Gabbard is another politician portraying those values but she’s also left in the margins. Americans call her a traitor for wanting to leave Syria and stop all other regime change efforts. She served in the military and ignorant Americans call her a traitor.
There was a reason MLK spoke about “Love Conquering All”. He was murdered by our government once he used his power to speak against our economy and the Viet Nam War.
However, the Donor Class backed by the Military Finance Industrial Complex doesn’t want to hear about “LOVE” and they don’t want peace or brotherly love. As you mentioned, they intentionally “stoke those flames.”
The SPLC tracks hate crimes. Hate crimes grew 1,800% after the election of Obama. Our culture is White Supremacy.
We slaughtered Native Americans and took their land and bought slaves to work the stolen land.
We also support Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people.
WE ARE A RACIST CULTURE.
Vernon always wants to know what action we are taking to make it a better place. Before you can make positive changes, you first have to acknowledge your problem.
Do you think America acknowledges it’s racist roots? Do you think America portrays its history truthfully to young people in schools?
No, we’ve white-washed our entire history including the founding of our nation and it’s “declaration of independence”. Our oppressors just changed from British to American.
Todd,
No, our government didn’t kill MLK. Redneck Nation did that. No, we don’t acknowledge our racist or genocidal roots. Yes, we have white-washed (figuratively and literally) our history and how we teach it.
You, me and many other on this blog have indeed identified the problem. Today’s blog underscores it. WE are the sort of people who foment the changes necessary to move our national thinking into the reality of the future. That’s why I keep harping on going into action even if it’s just pestering elected officials, writing letters to the editors and having intelligent discussions with those we meet. Each one of us is a pebble in the pond that creates ripples.
You all must read Rebecca Costa’s “The Watchman’s Rattle” – as well as my book “Racing to the Brink: The End Game for Race and Capitalism”, to get a full understanding of how and why racism persists and how it remains as the single-most dangerous element of our natural culture. I say dangerous as is dangerous to our democracy. It is the ultimate internal, family squabble that keeps us from being truly what we say we are.
Todd…and Vernon; the city of Indianapolis had the honor and benefit of sixteen years of wise and progressive leadership under Mayor William Hudnut, III, a Republican. He immediately acknowledged and address the problems within city government of racism, sexism, bigotry, nepotism, political patronage and cronyism and ended the forced 2% “donation” of our salary to the Republican party each payday…in cash. I was a city employee beginning in 1972 under Mayor Richard Lugar, a Republican, under whose leadership those issues flourished. I was still there when Goldsmith moved into the Mayor’s Office and began the initial “deconstruction” of Indianapolis City Government before that term was coined by Trump’s Republicans. The Goldsmith administration was a microcosm of the Nixon administration and a forerunner of what we are suffering today under the Trump reign over this fully red state with Pence waiting his chance to put his Indiana RFRA, anti-abortion laws into effect at the federal level.
Racism is and always has been a problem in this state and in this city; once the home of the National Grand Dragon of the KKK, D.C. Stephenson who lived in Irvington. It took his murder of a local young woman to bring him down and with him the power of the KKK here and in many other states where, not only racist local residents ruled, but elected officials all the way up to a number of governor’s offices. Today; it is simply more covert…or does it not need to be overt because it simply an accepted fact of life? Racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, anti-women and anti-LGBTQ are the unspoken foundation of the Republican party. Just look closely at pictures of the majority of our elected officials from the top level down to civilian employees within local governments.
“WE ARE A RACIST CULTURE.”
A few months ago, can’t remember the issue of the blog that day, I recommended those who love and identify with the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Harper Lee, “To Kill A Mockingbird” to read her sequel “Go Set A Watchman”. Those of us who stood with Atticus Finch during that trial of the black man, Tom Robinson, wrongly accused of raping a white girl, looked on him as a hero for that time, believing him to be anti-racist. I won’t tell you again to read the book for the surprise ending; I will save you the time (although it is an excellent read). Atticus was not standing up for the black man wrongly accused; he was only supporting his love for and trust in the law which required the man, although black, be provided with a defense attorney. Atticus Finch was a Segregationist!
I tell you this today because; more than ever in this country, we need to be able to trust our laws to protect us. But Rule of Law has unofficially been declared null and void in the United States of America. So; whatever his beliefs, we still need to look to the Atticus Finches for protection under our laws…before SCOTUS can repeal them.
“The good news is that there are many more Americans who don’t vote their fears and resentments than there are those who do.” The bad news is that there are way too many Americans who just don’t vote, period. Until we all accept our responsibility for the outcomes, we will continue to be ruled by the minority.
On the basis of the research discussed today, it seems obvious that the message from Trump’s political opposition would be one of equal opportunity in education, employment and at all stages of a person’s life, with details on how that would be implemented and how it would look to all parties. I don’t hear anything.
The Trumpers all have the same message (at least in Indiana): Pro-life, Pro 2nd Amendment, job creators, White, Christian, Build the Wall. Surely Hoosiers expect more than that from a candidate, or does a majority of Hoosier voters fit the stereotype described by the research?
Todd Snider aptly captured this group in a song years ago titled, “Conservative Christian Right Wing Republican.” The opening lyrics will give you a flavor for the tenor of it and in my opinion it is spot on.
Conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American male.
Gay bashin’, black fearin’, poor fightin’, tree killin’, regional leaders of sales
Frat housin’, keg tappin’, shirt tuckin’, back slappin’ haters of hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, peace lovin’, pot smokin’, porn watchin’ lazyass hippies like me.
Tree huggin’, love makin’, pro choicen, gay weddin’, widespread diggin’ hippies like me.
Skin color-blinded, conspiracy-minded, protestors of corporate greed,
We who have nothing and most likely will ‘till we all wind up locked up in jails
By conservative Christian, right wing Republican, straight, white, American males,.
I remember being on Facebook and taking those ‘your personality is…’ tests just for the fun of it. I used to go through them two or three times and always find places where I would change an answer just to see what kind of results came back. (yes!!! I LIED!) Being a bit of a geek it was fun to test out the algorithms to see what kind of model they were built on. I still really believe deep down that there are a vast majority of people that shouldn’t be on a computer.., if you don’t know what it does – how do you consider yourself in anyway private or safe? Just for giggles: anyone out there that hasn’t yet done so, find this book please: ‘How Computers Work’ should be about $19 bucks on Amazon – If more people were aware of the basic workings of a computer and the net it is attached to almost built so now-a-days, we might not be confronting a lot of the matters with internet security and people mining personal data… just sayin’. The power of sales media…
So we’re a racist nation. So it’s taken us only three years of Trump to figure that out. Now what?
It does make sense to identify and accept the problem first. But what comes second?
All we can really do is vote. Vote the problem out. Unpowered it. Kick it to the curb. Accept that we as a country are deeply flawed and move on. That to me is what it means to be liberal.
Neither the Obama administration nor this one define who we are and could be. Or maybe both do. Maybe we need to keep a mental picture of both and accept it as a choice every election.
Which candidates remind us of Obama and which Agent Orange?
I strongly suggest the ISSUE is not that we’re a RACIST nation. That’s not something new. The REAL ISSUE is how did it get so bad? That’s the $64,000 question that no one wants to answer. And it will only get worse and worse until we do answer it.
Thank you, Sheila. Today — more than most days — I feel you are talking to me (see my comments of yesterday which definitely were of the “give them empathy” camp). But I feel compelled to say I am also a first-time political candidate this May for Democratic precinct chair. I am completely willing to walk with candidates around our precinct, but mostly I just want to get to know people and find ways to get as many as possible of them to vote. I’ve never done anything like this before. It’s going to be an adventure. But it’s important, and I’m going to do it. I still think it’s worth trying empathy whenever fate presents us with a chance, mostly because it has a better chance of success than logical argument, even though it’s not a tactic worth relying on. Voting is a tactic worth relying on.
Since we’re not going to answer the $64,000 question. Who do you think will be our new President in 2000? Mike Pence or Steve Bannon.
Excuse my error, I meant 2020. That’s assuming “empathy” hasn’t already cured our ills.
We know in our hearts and minds what our problems are and have long since identified them via research and experience. Marv today asks “What now?” and Peggy and Sheila answer such query today about what to do about it, to wit: leave the couch and vote as though our democracy depends upon it, because it does. It’s called turnout.
With the current minority in power, including such as Trump, Falwell, Hannity, and the Big Money mob it will not be easy, but neither was Valley Forge nor (as I can testify) was the South Pacific of 1944-45. As Peggy and Sheila tell us, and to endlessly reiterate, it’s about turnout. We are by far in the majority but subject to apathy and voter suppression. We can end such sorry episodes in American history as Hannity (Trump’s Goebbels) and other such daily atrocities by focusing our energy and resources to reintroduce sanity to government via turnout – and let me write that again – turnout. Prefer fascism over democracy (however flawed)? Stay home.
Gerald,
“Marv today asks “What now? and Peggy and Sheila answer such query today about what to do about it, to wit: leave the couch and vote as though our democracy depends upon it, because it does. It’s called turnout.”
You couldn’t say it any better. But the Democratic Party has to be receptive to an all out fight. If not, we will lose much of the minority vote.
What to do now? If you wait until November to “turn out” and vote you will miss a great opportunity to really change the direction of this country.
Get involved now! Learn the names of you local candidates and of the candidates running for federal offices. Find out their positions on important issues. Then pick one or two who you want to win and volunteer to help. Really volunteer… take the lead if necessary. Get out the check book. Use whatever connections you have and fairly and politely campaign for them.
Meanwhile, every week make at least two phone calls, e-mails of letters to your representatives pushing for better and open representation. Yep! Lots to do!
We are all agreed that this is a racist – and bigoted – country. But…it is not all totally up to us to change that fact. My small neighborhood had a problem with vacant houses due to many elderly original owners dying and their homes become rentals. Over the past 3 years or so most of the vacant homes are now filled with families, many of them are Blacks or Hispanics. Trying to smile and say hello, or make a few brief comments in hopes of beginning, if not a friendship, at least a neighborly relationship, I have mostly been met with an occasional non but mostly blank looks or ignored completely. One or two of the white neighbors have commented on the racial changes in the neighborhood; I have told them to look closely at their homes and notice that the few trashy properties are where the white folks live. There are only 6-7 that I know of from my daily walks and, I’m sorry, they are simply white trash and lower real estate values in the entire neighborhood. This is somehow ignored.
We cannot change this racial situation alone; we, who are not racist must be met half way. I will be 81 in a few days; I am deaf, disabled and use a 4-wheel walker for exercise walks. I certainly do not pose a threat to anyone unless, to the Blacks and Hispanics, my white skin is a threat. I have fought racism and bigotry since the mid-1950’s and have lost family and friends in doing so. But; as Popeye says, I am who I am and that’s all that I am.”
JoAnn,
You’re vital to the blog. You have more “skin in the game” toward racial understanding than any of us. Race is Problem #1, if we’re going to mount the necessary ALL-OUT EFFORT within the Democratic Party that Gerald has so well, recently, advocated.
The DNC will be a major obstacle in an ALL-OUT EFFORT. As I have previously stated, they must be NEUTRALIZED in an effective way. $$$ can not be the determinate factor. That’s a major reason we are now in this horrible political mess.
racism,courted by the very people we elect.. we have a problem… since I see them,as diffrent,the politician that is.. im working class,some ways im closer to racism,or,maybe not. the suit you wear, is no more than a uniform that tells me,your above me. isnt that the myth? or is it justified to be above someone else? racism, again… maybe in class,socio economoic classes. racism. white,black,brown,yellow,red,whatever, racism. when Sidney Poitier words,in guess whos coming to dinner, we all,watched,as he explained to his father, ,,,you see a black man.i see a man… those words,in the 1960s fell on us all. I was young,growing up in newark,n.j. and the issue was all around me… my garndfather, a union white man,saw no color,he walked the same steps with men, everyday. he told me, never look at a mans color,look at his eyes,and see where hes been… my grandfather, a son of irish immigrants, and a man… today i look back, and see where education has failed. trump,is a disgusting human,along with the ones who walk with him in America,,he is not a man..
If I wanted to know more than I know already about racism and genocide, I would spend a month in Israel/Palestine.
From this months National Geographic Magazine:
New Orleans mayor Mitch Landrieu’s made a decision to remove Confederate monuments. “These monuments purposefully celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy—ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement and the terror it actually stood for.”
During a recent meal he approached an older couple he knew to say a quick hello. The wife was wearing a scowl as she leaned in close. “You ruined my life,” she said, twice, then added, “You destroyed my life.” “What did I do?” Landrieu asked, revealing a streak of political confidence that dances along the edge of disrespect. “You took the monuments down,” she said. Landrieu replied, “Are you dying? Did it give you cancer?”
He asserts he did more than just take down the monuments. He also took away something intangible and yet just as weighty as all that bronze and marble: pride. “There is a white Christian ethnic identity that people have tied onto and somehow connected to the Confederacy,” Landrieu says. “They feel like somebody has taken something away from them.”
============================================================================
Union General Carl Schurz who was sent to the South after Civil War to enforce Reconstruction observed the unrepentant attitude of White Southerners toward Black people in 1865. The Southern Whites understood the Civil War had ended slavery. There was the immediate effort to institute Jim Crow to maintain control of Black people.
Schurtz mentions the following in his report >> Hundreds of time I heard the old assertion repeated Negro education will be the ruin of the South. Another most singular notion still holds a potent sway over the minds of the masses – it is that elevation blacks will be the degradation of the whites. <<<
=================================================================
Northern Politicians decided at some point the destruction of the Confederacy militarily ended the war. The fact that White Supremacy lingered on culturally, socially in the institutions of South and buttressed by Jim Crow was of little interest. A hundred years after Carl Schurtz's report in 1865 the Civil Rights Movement came into being with fierce resistance.
The resistance to equality never went away and still exists.
Racism rules. Duh.
What can we do? Euthanize the old? Disenfranchise the uneducated?
We can’t do anything. The old and the dumb are with us and will remain with us. This is a democratic republic. They have and will continue to have a say in things. To some extent the dying off of the Baby Boomers will help move things more quickly, but that will take some time.
What should Democrats do? Stop being the party of identity politics. Stop pushing race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. into the faces of people who think the rebel flag is cool. Be the party of The New Deal. Bernie pretty much had it exactly right. We just need a young Bernie and other Democrats who will play along.
And is you want to no more about racism and genocide than Israel/Palestine, I would suggest you read-up on Nazi Germany. There’s no better source.
That does not mean, by the way, that we do not seek justice for those who are marginalized in this society because of their race, gender, sexuality, or whatever. We just don’t RUN ON that. First you win, THEN you fix things.
Over it,
“That does not mean, by the way, that we do not seek justice for those who are marginalized in this society because of their race, gender, sexuality, or whatever. We just don’t RUN ON that. First you win, THEN you fix things.”
So you want the minority community to trust you and vote with you. Keep dreaming. They aren’t fools.
I am currently listening to the cos of Nancy Mayer’so book “Dark Money”. It has deepened and broadened my consideration of the ultimate goal of the ultra rich capitalist and business interests with the US.
Perhaps we do not totally understand their intent and their thinking paradigm.
Sorry, once again my computer corrected my words with auto correct. They are cds.
Fix things? In 2018? The lobbyists won long ago. The proof of their victory is what we tangibly have chosen today to consider as priorities.
The amount of dollars spent on firing missiles into Syria far surpasses the amount needed to correct the water lines in Flint. The sad truth is,nothing would be any different with a Democratic President.
That’s nice that some folks are indignant and demand the takedown of Confederate monuments —but it means absolutely nothing when minorities and the poor are exposed to bad water sources because of neoliberalism/saving money/profits/private contracting,etc.
Marginalized? By whom?
“So you want the minority community to trust you and vote with you. Keep dreaming. They aren’t fools.”
The minority community includes also the blue-collar working class, who once was called Reagan democrats, who slid a few million votes from Hillary to Trump in 2016. They aren’t fools either.
They hear one candidate speak constantly, unceasingly of fixing problems of race, gender, sexuality, pay equality, and women and children issues, but when asked about job creation, merely retorts “it’s in the platform”, the blue-collar working and unworking dudes immediately recognize a candidate who cares little about them, and they fall hard for the other candidate who at least fakes a bit of passion for job creation and raising wages.
Such coarse insensitivity from Clinton— literally tossing trickle-down solutions at the issues of blue-collar economy and it’s need to put people to work and to spark a new pay ethic—needs to be sensitized to this fact: IT’S MILLIONS OF VOTES, FOLKS. Those are votes Hubert Humphrey and John Kennedy would never give up and votes the next democratic candidate must fight for…as if he or she were a real democrat.
^^^ Larry for the win.
Democrats are good at governing because that is the right thing to do. They are lousy at politics, as if they were above it.
Republicans are good at looting, so they are highly motivated to do whatever it takes to win. Arguing with the hard core is pointless. They don’t believe what THEY are saying, so of course they aren’t going to have an honest discussion with you. The only thing that matters to them is winning, and to them the ends justify the means. They are, in essence, the Psychopath Party, and psychopaths will say anything to manipulate their victims.
Democrats need to focus on convincing GOP victims not to be victims anymore, and we need to focus on WINNING for a change. It’s our only chance of having a decent country someday, if in fact that chance really exists.
Marv,
How did it get so bad? Well, begin with the Reconstruction fiasco post- Civil War and you see resentment being cast in concrete by the defeated South. Add to that the craven Northern capitalists swooping in and hiring black workers at half the wages of white workers who were subsequently kicked to the curb. Even my father voiced that resentment after the war.
My high school classmates never saw a black school mate. They never stopped hating black people….and this was in the Cleveland area. We were part of “white flight”; everyone scared to death of the property value destruction from integrated neighborhoods. It has ALWAYS been “bad”. Yes, a few – damned few – have made the intellectual leap to embrace civil rights and fought for them.
Like guns, I think the white, male, Christian population has racism entrenched in its DNA and are loath to give up the bigotry for fear of …. well, being afraid.
Our St. Luke’s United Methodist Church pastor has devoted 3 weeks of sermons to the issue of racism. Last Sunday he spoke on white privilege and asked us to take this quiz. http://www.gotoquiz.com/white_privilege_quiz.
He noted that he had met with the church’s black staff members to talk about racism in preparation for his sermons. One told of the talk she has every morning with her son about how to avoid being stopped by police and becoming a police victim (don’t wear hoodies; don’t have more than one other teenager in the car at a time, and more). All the black staffers had been stopped by police several times for no traffic violation AND their cars were SEARCHED as well. The pastor said he’d never been stopped without some violation and had never been searched. He’d never told his teenagers not to wear hoodies or never to have more than one friend in the car.
He explained white privilege as gaining something for which we didn’t work. It doesn’t necessarily mean we are undeserving or consciously did something to benefit by it. It just means we didn’t do anything to earn it.
The opposite of white privilege exists as well. He shared his high school experience in North Carolina where the black basketball coach didn’t feel he could play all the black players who were superior players but had to play some of the less skilled white players as starters because the black coach didn’t feel he could play an all black team. Our pastor said that’s how he go to play as a starter on the team even though he knew he was not as good a player as a black teammate.
There’s more to his powerful message. If you want to watch, click http://api.monkcms.com/Clients/embed_video_preview.php?moduleRecordId=5621746&CMSCODE=EKK.
“The degree to which racial resentment influenced Trump voters has been confirmed in study after study. ”
The above copied and pasted statement refers to the presidential election on November 8, 2016. The Civil War, ending in April 1865, ended slavery figuratively but not it reality. Emancipating the slaves did nothing to resolve or even abate racism. I just watched the end of the movie “Amistad” regarding a slave ship loaded with kidnapped Blacks who, being free men and women, revolted and took command of the ship, this was in 1839 The legal case made its way through the American Courts to the Supreme Court of the United States. In March 1841, with former President John Quincy Adams representing the Blacks, they were found to be free men and women and entitled to their freedom and to return to their homeland. Whether the words spoken by President John Quincy Adams in the movie were his actual words or the words of the movie scriptwriter; they deserve to be repeated today. “If Civil War must come, let it come. And let it be the final battle of the American Revolution.” It is now 177 years later and the Revolution and the Civil War rage on.
The current SCOTUS should probably be avoided rather than appealed to for protection from racism in its escalation led by our current president who knows there are “some fine people” in the neo-Nazis, White Nationalists and the KKK. Have we moved back in time beyond the years of our American Revolution in only 16 MONTHS? It appears so.
Vernon,
“Marv…How did it get so bad?” I wasn’t talking about the history of racism which you so well have pointed out.
I was talking about how in the hell could we allow such a useless scoundrel to become our President. That’s not all about racism. It’s about the failure to defend ourselves. To be more specific, how were our defenses compromised? Let me clue you in, it wasn’t caused by the “tooth fairy.”
All the warning signs were out there. Why did we fail to recognize the LEVEL of the hatred that Trump/Pence/Bannon could exploit? What’s new? Nothing has changed, that problem is still with us.
And listening to the responses on this blog, we will SURELY be “bitten” again.
From the brilliant Adolph Reed Jr..
“So, if we have to choose between those two [parties], obviously for most of us who are committed to the ideals of justice and equality, the one that’s committed to multiculturalism and diversity is less bad than the one that’s opposed to them. But the deeper problem is that they’re both actively committed to maintaining and intensifying economic inequality, and as I and my friend and colleague Walter Benn Michaels have pointed out tirelessly over the last decade or so, that that ideal of a just society is one in which one percent of the population can control ninety percent of the stuff, but it would be just if twelve percent of the one percent were black, fourteen percent Latino, and half of them were women, and whatever percentage were gay, and what that means, then, is that most Black people, and most Latinos, and most white people, and most Asian Americans would would be stuck holding like the end of the stick with the stuff on it that I assume I can’t call by its right name.”
More Here https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2016/06/adolph-reed-identity-politics-exposing-class-division-in-democrats.html
Marv,
My new book should be out and available on Amazon in a couple weeks. I’ll be interested in your take. Can we go through Sheila to share e-mails?
Vernon,
I doubt if Sheila would mind. I’m looking forward to reading it.
The Senate on Thursday confirmed a former coal industry lobbyist as the second-highest official at the Environmental Protection Agency, putting him next in line to run the agency if embattled administrator Scott Pruitt is forced out or resigns.
Like Pruitt, Wheeler has expressed public skepticism about the consensus of climate scientists that the continued burning of fossil fuels is the primary cause of global warming.
“Before the Trump administration, it would have been inconceivable that a coal and chemical industry lobbyist with a long history of hostility toward environmental policy would be the No. 2 at EPA,” said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group.
The Senate confirmed Wheeler Thursday 53-45. Three Democrats — Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia — joined with Republicans to support Wheeler.
Once again Joe Donnelly joins the Republicans.