“Race in America” (May 22nd 2021) was a Special Report in The Economist, marking one year since George Floyd was killed by police. This post is based on that and their editorial in the same issue. Their guests articles on reparations and critical race theory did not appear in the edition I received (US/ Kindle).
As The Economist tells it (click on the links to get my own take):
Black middle class – the Black middle class in the US is the biggest in the world! Not affected by racism apart from personal slights that Black professors like to whine about.
Racism – outlawed in the 1960s, with personal racism in steep decline ever since, as shown by views on mixed-race marriage. Trump supporters, apart from, you know, a neo-Nazi fringe, are not so much anti-Black as pro-White – just like how Blacks are themselves pro-Black. With ongoing racism now so rare, it can no longer be the main thing holding Black people back. The “legacy” of slavery and past racism, though, remains:
Black ghettos – despite a large Black middle class, millions of Black people are still stuck in the ghetto. These were shaped by racial covenants, White flight, deindustrialization, putting public housing in poor neighbourhoods, etc. Redlining? What’s that? Ghettos lack good schools and employment opportunities. They were made yet worse by:
Black-on-Black crime – no one knows why, but from the 1960s to the 1990s there was a “spree of lawlessness” in Black neighbourhoods. This made them a bad investment risk. Again, nothing about redlining or even mass incarceration, the criminalization of cannabis, heroin and crack, etc. The Economist, now context-free!
Black fathers – in the past, The Economist had pointed to these beings as a greater scourge on the race than White racists. No word on them this time.
Reparations – the racial wealth gap is caused by differences in income compounded over time. Reparations, as a one-off payment, will not change that. Just look at Native Americans: despite all their casinos (= reparations), they are still in a bad way.
“Critical Race Theory” – in quotes! Airily dismissed as so much overwrought wokery beloved by professors. But there is something very dangerous about it: it pushes:
identity politics – this could seriously destabilize the US. There has never yet been a large, rich country where no one race, religion or ethnic group was in the majority. It is not certain the US can pull it off. Instead of sinking into the tribalism of identity politics, Americans need to pull together! Cue the MLK Quote about “character not colour”. And:
James Baldwin – in 1967 he asked Black Americans:
“to do something unprecedented: to create ourselves without finding it necessary to create an enemy.”
Policy recommendations: Fighting racism would get little long-term White support – and is besides the point (see above). Far more practical ways to help Black people:
- Fight poverty in a colour-blind way. Example: Obamacare.
- Rein in the police. Example: Limit qualified immunity.
- Help poor people move to middle-class neighbourhoods. Examples: Chicago and Seattle.
– Abagond, 2021.
See also:
- Black people according to: Herodotus, White Americans, Thomas Jefferson, Franz Boas, the 1911 Britannica, 1959 Golden Book Encyclopedia, US television, Breitbart News
- George Floyd
- The Economist
- Similar:
- Afua Hirsch: Brit(ish) – her description of White racists in the UK fits The Economist
- colour-blind racism: the four frames
- Black People: The White Liberal User’s Guide
- assimilationists in Ibram X. Kendi’s “Stamped”
- Kindle
576
Looks like more white supremacist drivel to me.
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If the economist wanted to help, they would write about racism in America.
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The Economist is racist
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Speech at the Melodeon
Sat May 22nd 2021 by abagond
…..and were only hurting their cause by saying not-nice things about, gasp, slave owners….
Black people according to The Economist
Tue May 25th 2021 by abagond
…..Fighting racism would get little long-term White support…
The more things change, the more they remain the same
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I haven’t read the Economist in a long while, now I remember why not. They are a racist publication.
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The word “woke” is overused and has lost it’s meaning. And i really hate when White Conservatives get a hold of something from Black culture and misuse said words like woke and cancel culture.
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Mary, they have a history of bastardizing black concepts to point of exhaustion, that’s the tactic and it works very effectively, think “race-baiting” and now CRT.
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@ Mary B. @ Cherry Boy
Great points!
The White Right considers it a propaganda coup when they can muddy terms to the point where they can be used against the oppressed. Then they have the nerve to claim they are victims of the people they oppress.
They are able to do this because they control all forms of media, including social media. They have a louder bullhorn and they use it to control the narrative.
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