1968-2008 Same shit different year!
Barack Obama’s March 18, 2008 speech, “A More Perfect Union,” focused attention issues of race and class in America today. Forty years ago race and class was on the minds of Americans too — when The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders released its report on the urban riots of 1967. That report, more commonly known as the Kerner Report, with its stark conclusion that “Our nation is moving towards two societies — one white, one black — separate and unequal” — was a best-seller. It was also the source of great controversy and remains so today. Peep the Bill Moyers Special, if you dont want to at least view the stats below.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/watch.html
Bill Moyers interviews Newark Mayor Cory Booker for a frontline report on race and politics today.
Posted on March 30, 2008 at 11:47 PM | Previous Entry | Next Entry | Entry List | Email Entry |
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http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03282008/watch2.html
Responses to this entry
There are 5 total comments about this entry. The most recent comment was posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago...
The legacy of white supremacy is alive today in almost everything that we see around us. Industrialization, media, housing, public policy, etc. A huge problem in this nation is that we do not discuss it. We act as if racism is not alive, as if white supremacy is not real and alive. More discussion might lead to change and at least less ignorance. Look at New Orleans in the wake of the Katrina catastrophe, why isn’t it part of the public’s news today when the place is still wrecked? Why is Africa hardly ever in the US’ international news reports? Why is poverty a bad word here and why do none of the politicians running for office talk about the poor? I can ramble on.....
Im glad you addressed this as I see it becoming more and more prevalent in my own neighborhood and in the work force that despite my accomplishments and accolades affords me no positions of authority or leadership. I see how studios and businesses are becoming homogenized and those who are ethnic are left to the tenuous duty of menial or ‘protective’ labor for the white folks. I am increasingly being reminded and have to address it to my self and my white friends as they sometimes fall subconsciously in line with the status quo.
It irks me that the Graff and street art community has increasingly become ethnically divisive and classist to the point that the culture is no longer referenced from the minorities and ghettoes which spore it, today the middle class art hipster is the rebellious hero, they are celebrated and credited for something they are an opportunist of.
There is no doubt that there is a place for these people who are influenced by the culture, they too provide a service to the creative community, and I believe in that space race shouldn’t be an issue, NOT ADDRESSING IT IS.
Like Verbal Kent said: the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn’t exist. That’s Racism to a tee. I was glad when brotha Obama went out there and said what he did in Philly though he could only touch the tip of the iceberg being that he has to somehow maintain “non-threatening negro” status which, in this society, doesn’t exist unless you’re dead and unmartyrable. But not to get to far off point, yeah, there’s a war going on outside no one is safe from, but so many people have been convinced either that they’re not victims or that their victimization makes them unable to also be an oppressor to the next man/woman/child down a rung. I’m glad I had Hiphop culture to encourage me to create my own place in my microcosm and the greater timeline of history, but we all know that most kids--or adults, for that matter--don’t have a such an entity in their lives and that even Hiphop can’t save us if we aren’t honest and self-critical and willing to take on not only new aesthetic forms but new social and emotional forums as well to break down all bullshit divisions and binaries of people to strengthen our numbers. Coming back to Reverend King, he said, in his final speech, “there comes a time when silence is betrayal,” so I thank God for brothas like y’all (and the sistas as well) who made a voice for yourselves and declared yourselves Subjects convinced later generations like mine to do the same. I just hope that we as a collective can use our power to create new cultures of communication that do not accept the status quo under the guise of maintaining the “peace” of oppression, apathy, fear, and self-hatred.
Thank You for your honesty and well thought out comment.
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Good post. i agree 100%, but the sad thing is that when most white people see this they say black should just get jobs, or they are crack heads who cant afford anything, or its their own fault. I dont understand. Im half black, raised in a middle class family, i had relatives, black, that live in Newark and Rahway, I am from Newark myself but mostly raised in the country. I understand it, why dont all these other people?