The Roots of Racism,
Economic Inequality, and the
Shape of Your Life
How Wealth Inequality Spiraled Out of Control
Bob Reich’s excellent presentation of the growth of wealth inequality simply did not have the time to deal with another major and downright evil way of gaining wealth.
That is using “race” to gain power which can eventually lead to wealth.
Liberal Solution to Disparity:
The disparity between blacks and whites is eliminated.
The disparity between rich and poor remains. Black and white poor remain in poverty. For example, the black and white middle class still get free health care and can lose everything if struck by a catastrophic illness.
Democratic Socialism:
Walter Benn Michaels argues that Democratic Socialism does away with both racial and economic disparities.
Anti-racism:
Adolph Reed argues that anti-racism diverts our attention from class disparity just as racism has been used in the past.
Walter Benn Michaels explains that it is good to fight racism. That alone leaves economic inequality unaddressed and thus a burden for everyone except the very wealthy.
The idea of “race” was invented in the second half of the 1600s in the American colonies to divide plantation workers by an idea that could not be altered.
The idea of race claims a biological difference of great consequence exists between different populations. Once the Christian slaves, who we would call white today, had fully identified with the plantation owners, they could not conceive of themselves joining with the heathen slaves, who we would call black today, because they had been labeled as less than human. The creation of this fiction called race ended rebellions for the most part.
What would happen to the upper class today if whites and blacks worked together to get some control over it?
The ideas of “race” and “white superiority” were created in the last half of the 1600s.
The creation of these ideas by the wealthy was to divide the much larger class of workers thereby diminishing their possibilites for rebellion.
Once these ideas were widely accepted, politicians could demonize the population least similar to the wealthy in order to win votes from the white majority, a process that continues today.
With whites focused on protecting themselves from the supposed evil non-whites, the wealthy were free to increase their wealth.
A society without racism is important to the well-being of all societal members.
However, focusing sole on ridding every member of racist attitudes will take away the time and energy needed to retrieve democracy from the iron but often unnoticed grip of the upper class.
Part of that grip comes from the explicit denouciation of non-whites and Jews, thus aiding dominators who seek power and inflluence through hate speech and the fear it generates.
Thus, the forces that produce inequalities in wealth and power will also generate more racism and antisemitism. Anti-racism will stamp out some racism here and there while more grows elsewhere.
The extent of White supremacy has been decreasing overtime. The Civil War decreased the attitudes and structural means for discrimination a small amount. Yet, changes taking back much of white control over the lives of non-whites occurred between the War and the Civil Rights movement culminating in major decreases in white power. The sixty years that followed produced only minor setbacks in tearing down white supremacy with major gains for non-whites. Yet, the backlash to these decreases in white supremacy starting in the 1970s is now poised to engage in major attempts to reinstate some of the losses to white supremacy. Nevertheless, the struggle of non-whites for equality of opportunity and for equality under the law is likely to produce more decreases in white supremacy in the 2020s and 2030s if forces against white supremacy, which include many whites, are able to stop some of the more extreme assaults on democracy being pushed as part of the backlash.
The extent of White supremacy has been decreasing overtime. The Civil War decreased the attitudes and structural means for discrimination a small amount. Yet, changes taking back much of white control over the lives of non-whites occurred between the War and the Civil Rights movement culminating in major decreases in white power. The sixty years that followed produced only minor setbacks in tearing down white supremacy with major gains for non-whites. Yet, the backlash to these decreases in white supremacy starting in the 1970s is now poised to engage in major attempts to reinstate some of the losses to white supremacy. Nevertheless, the struggle of non-whites for equality of opportunity and for equality under the law is likely to produce more decreases in white supremacy in the 2020s and 2030s if forces against white supremacy, which include many whites, are able to stop some of the more extreme assaults on democracy being pushed as part of the backlash.
Possible decreases in economic inequality.
Possibly getting universal health care.
Possibly more powerful unions.
Possibly better public schools
Possible improvements in resurrecting a minimal degree of democracy.
Possibly more fair congressional districts.
Greater access to the wisdom of non-whites.
A feeling for many whites of economic desperation that would likely decrease with decreased economic inequality.
- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3
1) An undeserved feeling of superiority.
2) Occasionally not being chosen for a job that went to a non-white person. [It is well established that because of racism, whites are sometimes selected for a job or an educational opening with equally qualified non-white applicants.]
Racism cannot be substantially decreased without decreasing the power of the social structures that promote racism.
Such structures include upper-class individuals and organizations that use racism to divide the middle and lower classes over racial issues.
Dominators are allowed to preach hate to attract followers.
Internet advocates of hate to increase viewers and thus increase website, podcast, and youtube channels revenue.
The remaining slides are examples of lies that dominant contenders have told us about the American political economy.
Most of us have heard these lies so often that we tend to assume that they are true.
