http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege
THIS IS YOUR NATION ON WHITE PRIVILEGE By Tim Wise
For those who still can't grasp the concept of white privilege, or who are constantly looking for some easy-to-understand examples of it, perhaps this list will help.White privilege is when you can get pregnant at seventeen like Bristol Palin and everyone is quick to insist that your life and that of your family is a personal matter, and that no one has a right to judge you or your parents, because "every family has challenges," even as black and Latino families with similar "challenges" are regularly typified as irresponsible, pathological and arbiters of social decay.
White privilege is when you can call yourself a "fuckin' redneck," like Bristol Palin's boyfriend does, and talk about how if anyone messes with you, you'll "kick their fuckin' ass," and talk about how you like to "shoot shit" for fun, and still be viewed as a responsible, all-American boy (and a great son-in-law to be) rather than a thug.White privilege is when you can attend four different colleges in six years like Sarah Palin did (one of which you basically failed out of, then returned to after making up some coursework at a community college), and no one questions your intelligence or commitment to achievement, whereas a person of color who did this would be viewed as unfit for college, and probably someone who only got in in the first place because of affirmative action.
White privilege is when you can claim that being mayor of a town smaller than most medium-sized colleges, and then Governor of a state with about the same number of people as the lower fifth of the island of Manhattan, makes you ready to potentially be president, and people don't all piss on themselves with laughter, while being a black U.S. Senator, two-term state Senator, and constitutional law scholar, means you're "untested."
White privilege is being able to say that you support the words "under God" in the pledge of allegiance because "if it was good enough for the founding fathers, it's good enough for me," and not be immediately disqualified from holding office--since, after all, the pledge was written in the late 1800s and the "under God" part wasn't added until the 1950s--while believing that reading accused criminals and terrorists their rights (because, ya know, the Constitution, which you used to teach at a prestigious law school requires it), is a dangerous and silly idea only supported by mushy liberals.
White privilege is being able to be a gun enthusiast and not make people immediately scared of you.
White privilege is being able to have a husband who was a member of an extremist political party that wants your state to secede from the Union, and whose motto was "Alaska first," and no one questions your patriotism or that of your family, while if you're black and your spouse merely fails to come to a 9/11 memorial so she can be home with her kids on the first day of school, people immediately think she's being disrespectful.
White privilege is being able to make fun of community organizers and the work they do--like, among other things, fight for the right of women to vote, or for civil rights, or the 8-hour workday, or an end to child labor--and people think you're being pithy and tough, but if you merely question the experience of a small town mayor and 18-month governor with no foreign policy expertise beyond a class she took in college--you're somehow being mean, or even sexist.
White privilege is being able to convince white women who don't even agree with you on any substantive issue to vote for you and your running mate anyway, because all of a sudden your presence on the ticket has inspired confidence in these same white women, and made them give your party a "second look."
White privilege is being able to fire people who didn't support your political campaigns and not be accused of abusing your power or being a typical politician who engages in favoritism, while being black and merely knowing some folks from the old-line political machines in Chicago means you must be corrupt.
White privilege is being able to attend churches over the years whose pastors say that people who voted for John Kerry or merely criticize George W. Bush are going to hell, and that the U.S. is an explicitly Christian nation and the job of Christians is to bring Christian theological principles into government, and who bring in speakers who say the conflict in the Middle East is God's punishment on Jews for rejecting Jesus, and everyone can still think you're just a good church-going Christian, but if you're black and friends with a black pastor who has noted (as have Colin Powell and the U.S. Department of Defense) that terrorist attacks are often the result of U.S. foreign policy and who talks about the history of racism and its effect on black people, you're an extremist who probably hates America.
White privilege is not knowing what the Bush Doctrine is when asked by a reporter, and then people get angry at the reporter for asking you such a "trick question," while being black and merely refusing to give one-word answers to the queries of Bill O'Reilly means you're dodging the question, or trying to seem overly intellectual and nuanced.
White privilege is being able to claim your experience as a POW has anything at all to do with your fitness for president, while being black and experiencing racism is, as Sarah Palin has referred to it a "light" burden.
And finally, white privilege is the only thing that could possibly allow someone to become president when he has voted with George W. Bush 90 percent of the time, even as unemployment is skyrocketing, people are losing their homes, inflation is rising, and the U.S. is increasingly isolated from world opinion, just because white voters aren't sure about that whole "change" thing. Ya know, it's just too vague and ill-defined, unlike, say, four more years of the same, which is very concrete and certain…
White privilege is, in short, the problem.
My response: i think its over simplifying the issue, but its true. we do look at 'white crime' and 'black crime' differently, i think. and we look at kids and their behavior differently. imagine if obama's 17 year old daughter was pregnant -- the furvor would be over urban, low class teen pregnancies instead of just teen pregnancy and abortion debates.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
I <3 JC (I'm not referring to jesus...)
FROM CNN’s Jack Cafferty: Race is arguably the biggest issue in this election, and it’s one that nobody’s talking about.
The differences between Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be more well-defined. Obama wants to change Washington. McCain is a part of Washington and a part of the Bush legacy. Yet the polls remain close. Doesn’t make sense…unless it’s race.
Time magazine’s Michael Grunwald says race is the elephant in the room. He says Barack Obama needs to tread lightly as he fights back against the McCain-Palin campaign attacks.
He writes, “Over the past 18 months, Obama has been attacked as a naive novice, an empty suit, a tax-and-spend liberal, an arugula-grazing élitist and a corrupt ward heeler, but the only attacks that clearly stung him involved the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - attacks that portrayed him as an angry black man under the influence of an even angrier black man.”
The angry black man, he goes on to say, doesn’t have broad appeal in White America. And even though the makeup of our population is changing, whites are still the majority in this country.
How ironic that the giant step forward of nominating an African American for president may ultimately keep us mired in the past.
The differences between Barack Obama and John McCain couldn’t be more well-defined. Obama wants to change Washington. McCain is a part of Washington and a part of the Bush legacy. Yet the polls remain close. Doesn’t make sense…unless it’s race.
Time magazine’s Michael Grunwald says race is the elephant in the room. He says Barack Obama needs to tread lightly as he fights back against the McCain-Palin campaign attacks.
He writes, “Over the past 18 months, Obama has been attacked as a naive novice, an empty suit, a tax-and-spend liberal, an arugula-grazing élitist and a corrupt ward heeler, but the only attacks that clearly stung him involved the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - attacks that portrayed him as an angry black man under the influence of an even angrier black man.”
The angry black man, he goes on to say, doesn’t have broad appeal in White America. And even though the makeup of our population is changing, whites are still the majority in this country.
How ironic that the giant step forward of nominating an African American for president may ultimately keep us mired in the past.
PSoftheD
Maureen Dowd, NYT: I covered a boisterous women against Palin rally in Anchorage, where women toted placards such as “Fess up about troopergate,” “Keep your vows off my body,” “Barbies for war!” “Sarah, please don’t put me on your enemies list,” and “McCain and Palin = McPain.”
A local conservative radio personality, Eddie Burke, who had lambasted the organizers as “a bunch of socialist, baby-killing maggots,” was on hand with a sign reading “Alaska is not Frisco.”
“We are one Supreme Court justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade,” he excitedly told me.
R. D. Levno, a retired school principal, flew in from Fairbanks. “She’s a child, inexperienced and simplistic,” she said of Sarah. “It’s taking us back to junior high school. She’s one of the popular girls, but one of the mean girls. She is seductive, but she is invented.”
My interpretation: palin = regina george.
A local conservative radio personality, Eddie Burke, who had lambasted the organizers as “a bunch of socialist, baby-killing maggots,” was on hand with a sign reading “Alaska is not Frisco.”
“We are one Supreme Court justice away from overturning Roe v. Wade,” he excitedly told me.
R. D. Levno, a retired school principal, flew in from Fairbanks. “She’s a child, inexperienced and simplistic,” she said of Sarah. “It’s taking us back to junior high school. She’s one of the popular girls, but one of the mean girls. She is seductive, but she is invented.”
My interpretation: palin = regina george.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
PSoftheD
The always classy Colin Powell...
Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State, said this afternoon that electing an African-American US president would be “electrifying” for the world, but he said he still remains undecided between McCain and Obama.
“[T]o send that kind of a message, I think would be electrifying,” he said, “but at the same time, we have to make a judgment here ... which of the candidates blends a right measure of experience and judgment? I have been watching both of these individuals, and I know them both extremely well and I have not decided who I’m going to vote for yet.”
Powell said he wants to watch the debates, look at the party platforms, and focus on substance. "We've got to get off this lipstick on a pig stuff," he said to loud applause.
When one of the moderators asked Powell whether this vote was personal to him since he was the first African-American Secretary of State, his answer sparked wild applause. "I'm an American first and foremost," he said.
Colin Powell, the first African-American Secretary of State, said this afternoon that electing an African-American US president would be “electrifying” for the world, but he said he still remains undecided between McCain and Obama.
“[T]o send that kind of a message, I think would be electrifying,” he said, “but at the same time, we have to make a judgment here ... which of the candidates blends a right measure of experience and judgment? I have been watching both of these individuals, and I know them both extremely well and I have not decided who I’m going to vote for yet.”
Powell said he wants to watch the debates, look at the party platforms, and focus on substance. "We've got to get off this lipstick on a pig stuff," he said to loud applause.
When one of the moderators asked Powell whether this vote was personal to him since he was the first African-American Secretary of State, his answer sparked wild applause. "I'm an American first and foremost," he said.
Too True (and easy for me to understand)
Time for caution for consumers: Wall St.'s black hole hits Main St.
BY SUSAN TOMPOR
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
After watching Wall Street get whacked by a frantic 500-point drop on Monday, we'd all like to know what moves we should make on Main Street.
The short -- and yes, glib -- answer: Now is not the time to go shopping.
Not for a boatload of bargain-basement stocks. Not for a deal on a dream house. Not for much of anything.
"Anybody who thinks the housing crisis is over is on some kind of illegal drug," said W. Howard Morris, chief investment officer for Prairie & Tireman, a money management firm in Detroit.
The mess that began more than a year ago with the subprime mortgage slop is dragging the broader financial system deep into the mud, far deeper than anyone dreamed possible.
It's a reminder that the economy and the safety of the financial system -- not lipstick -- should be top campaign issues.
After news of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co., the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 504.48 points, or 4.42%, closing at 10,917.51.
It was the worst point drop since the Dow lost 684.81 points on Sept. 17, 2001, the first day of trading after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
It also was the sixth-largest point drop ever for the Dow, behind the 508-point fall in the October 1987 crash.
The Dow has tumbled by 3,247.02 points, or nearly 23%, since Oct. 9, 2007, when the blue-chip index closed at a record 14,164.53 points.
Federal Reserve response
We know it's more likely now that the Federal Reserve will knock down interest rates today.
The federal funds rate -- the rate banks charge each other on overnight loans -- has dropped to 2% from 5.25% last summer.
The short-term rate could hit 1.5% or 1.75% today, according to Diane Swonk, chief economist for Mesirow Financial in Chicago.
We don't know when consumers who have good-but-not-pristine credit will once again be able to easily get a mortgage or a car loan.
David Sowerby, portfolio manager for Loomis, Sayles & Co. in Bloomfield Hills, predicted it could take six to nine months for banks to be more willing to lend.
We do know, all too well, that the so-called Wall Street bigwigs did it to us again.
Economists readily admit that even now -- even after Lehman, even after Bank of America Corp. agreed to buy Merrill Lynch and even after last week's federal bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- no one really knows how many billions of dollars in mortgage-related assets financial institutions have really lost.
It's a black hole.
It's as if a family had no idea just how much money it really owed on its mortgage, car loans and credit card debt. Talk about reassuring.
Cheap credit cost everyone -- even those who didn't borrow a dime -- a fortune.
Financial firms and mortgage brokers once raked in the cash by making real estate loans and holding assets bought with borrowed money. Deals were heavily leveraged and the collateral tended to be big investments in mortgage-related securities.
Domino effect
And then home values fell, foreclosures went up and the credit crunch made it harder for many people to get a mortgage.
"The domino effect in the decline in housing prices is greater than anyone could have predicted," said Morris, the Detroit investment officer.
As the housing crisis unfolded, the value of mortgage-related securities kept going down and down. And investment firms needed to raise more capital. For a while, they could turn to foreign investors. But now, it's getting even tougher to raise that money overseas. Lehman couldn't find a buyer.
It's sort of like somebody who borrows heavily to buy a home. You're going to lose what little equity you had when the housing market hits the skids. And if you didn't have much equity in the first place, you're not going to borrow any more if your home's value has fallen dramatically.
"The credit crisis has crippled the financial sector," said Eugenio J. Alemán, senior economist for Wells Fargo in Minneapolis. "They are not lending because they can't."
So far, the world's biggest banks and brokerages have reported more than $510 billion of write-downs and credit losses on securities tied to mortgages. Lehman still had a $50-billion stockpile of such mortgage-related investments last month.
We're seeing more fallout daily. The Federal Reserve on Monday asked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase to help make $70 billion to $75 billion in loans available to giant insurer American International Group, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted people familiar with the situation. AIG shares fell nearly 61% on Monday. AIG closed at $4.76 a share, down $7.38 a share on Monday.
Consumers on Main Street have no choice but to move cautiously. They're stuck paying down their own debt -- and praying that they don't lose a job in the fallout.
Contact SUSAN TOMPOR at 313-222-8876 or stompor@freepress.com.
BY SUSAN TOMPOR
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
After watching Wall Street get whacked by a frantic 500-point drop on Monday, we'd all like to know what moves we should make on Main Street.
The short -- and yes, glib -- answer: Now is not the time to go shopping.
Not for a boatload of bargain-basement stocks. Not for a deal on a dream house. Not for much of anything.
"Anybody who thinks the housing crisis is over is on some kind of illegal drug," said W. Howard Morris, chief investment officer for Prairie & Tireman, a money management firm in Detroit.
The mess that began more than a year ago with the subprime mortgage slop is dragging the broader financial system deep into the mud, far deeper than anyone dreamed possible.
It's a reminder that the economy and the safety of the financial system -- not lipstick -- should be top campaign issues.
After news of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co., the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 504.48 points, or 4.42%, closing at 10,917.51.
It was the worst point drop since the Dow lost 684.81 points on Sept. 17, 2001, the first day of trading after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
It also was the sixth-largest point drop ever for the Dow, behind the 508-point fall in the October 1987 crash.
The Dow has tumbled by 3,247.02 points, or nearly 23%, since Oct. 9, 2007, when the blue-chip index closed at a record 14,164.53 points.
Federal Reserve response
We know it's more likely now that the Federal Reserve will knock down interest rates today.
The federal funds rate -- the rate banks charge each other on overnight loans -- has dropped to 2% from 5.25% last summer.
The short-term rate could hit 1.5% or 1.75% today, according to Diane Swonk, chief economist for Mesirow Financial in Chicago.
We don't know when consumers who have good-but-not-pristine credit will once again be able to easily get a mortgage or a car loan.
David Sowerby, portfolio manager for Loomis, Sayles & Co. in Bloomfield Hills, predicted it could take six to nine months for banks to be more willing to lend.
We do know, all too well, that the so-called Wall Street bigwigs did it to us again.
Economists readily admit that even now -- even after Lehman, even after Bank of America Corp. agreed to buy Merrill Lynch and even after last week's federal bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae -- no one really knows how many billions of dollars in mortgage-related assets financial institutions have really lost.
It's a black hole.
It's as if a family had no idea just how much money it really owed on its mortgage, car loans and credit card debt. Talk about reassuring.
Cheap credit cost everyone -- even those who didn't borrow a dime -- a fortune.
Financial firms and mortgage brokers once raked in the cash by making real estate loans and holding assets bought with borrowed money. Deals were heavily leveraged and the collateral tended to be big investments in mortgage-related securities.
Domino effect
And then home values fell, foreclosures went up and the credit crunch made it harder for many people to get a mortgage.
"The domino effect in the decline in housing prices is greater than anyone could have predicted," said Morris, the Detroit investment officer.
As the housing crisis unfolded, the value of mortgage-related securities kept going down and down. And investment firms needed to raise more capital. For a while, they could turn to foreign investors. But now, it's getting even tougher to raise that money overseas. Lehman couldn't find a buyer.
It's sort of like somebody who borrows heavily to buy a home. You're going to lose what little equity you had when the housing market hits the skids. And if you didn't have much equity in the first place, you're not going to borrow any more if your home's value has fallen dramatically.
"The credit crisis has crippled the financial sector," said Eugenio J. Alemán, senior economist for Wells Fargo in Minneapolis. "They are not lending because they can't."
So far, the world's biggest banks and brokerages have reported more than $510 billion of write-downs and credit losses on securities tied to mortgages. Lehman still had a $50-billion stockpile of such mortgage-related investments last month.
We're seeing more fallout daily. The Federal Reserve on Monday asked Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J.P. Morgan Chase to help make $70 billion to $75 billion in loans available to giant insurer American International Group, according to the Wall Street Journal, which quoted people familiar with the situation. AIG shares fell nearly 61% on Monday. AIG closed at $4.76 a share, down $7.38 a share on Monday.
Consumers on Main Street have no choice but to move cautiously. They're stuck paying down their own debt -- and praying that they don't lose a job in the fallout.
Contact SUSAN TOMPOR at 313-222-8876 or stompor@freepress.com.
Lions Garbage Talk
Absolutely the best thing I've read today. (although...its still early). I love that he just keeps going on and on and on...awesome.
The Monday morning topic on ESPN2's "First Take": After two weeks as a starter, is Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers the real deal?
"I like what I'm seeing from Aaron Rodgers," offered Stephen A. Smith. "Right now he's playing just as good as any quarterback in the NFL."
But?
Smith continued: "The key thing for me is, remember he was playing against the Lions. ...
"This team is just atrocious and Matt Millen is a walking football atrocity. He is the worst executive, in my opinion, in the history of team sports.
"He is flat-out garbage. The fact that he is allowed to have a job, the fact that he is allowed to walk though the streets of Detroit to enter Ford Field is an abomination in and of itself.
"There should be barricades keeping this man out of the city limits. He should not be allowed to be employed by the Detroit Lions. He is a disgrace of the highest order.
"And that's why you can't take anything Aaron Rodgers did yesterday seriously, because we are talking about the Detroit Lions, who are absolute garbage. ...
"(Millen) is clueless, he doesn't know what he's doing. Until they get rid of him, we're going to be saying that a whole bunch of people look good when they play the Detroit Lions."
The Monday morning topic on ESPN2's "First Take": After two weeks as a starter, is Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers the real deal?
"I like what I'm seeing from Aaron Rodgers," offered Stephen A. Smith. "Right now he's playing just as good as any quarterback in the NFL."
But?
Smith continued: "The key thing for me is, remember he was playing against the Lions. ...
"This team is just atrocious and Matt Millen is a walking football atrocity. He is the worst executive, in my opinion, in the history of team sports.
"He is flat-out garbage. The fact that he is allowed to have a job, the fact that he is allowed to walk though the streets of Detroit to enter Ford Field is an abomination in and of itself.
"There should be barricades keeping this man out of the city limits. He should not be allowed to be employed by the Detroit Lions. He is a disgrace of the highest order.
"And that's why you can't take anything Aaron Rodgers did yesterday seriously, because we are talking about the Detroit Lions, who are absolute garbage. ...
"(Millen) is clueless, he doesn't know what he's doing. Until they get rid of him, we're going to be saying that a whole bunch of people look good when they play the Detroit Lions."
Monday, September 15, 2008
PSoftheD
From MSNBC's Chuck Todd and Co.: *** Liar, liar, pants on fire?
For someone who prides himself on his "straight talk" -- and whose political reputation is based in part on that truth-telling reputation -- it was a brutal weekend for McCain and his campaign. The New York Times front-paged a piece noting all the criticism he has received for “stretching the truth; the Washington Post gave him “Four Pinocchios” for asserting on “The View” that Palin has never taken earmarks as Alaska’s governor; and Bloomberg News reported that the campaign may not have been exactly truthful in estimating the size of its recent crowds.
Even Karl Rove said that some of McCain’s ads have gone “beyond the 100% truth test.” Now the Obama camp is doubling down on this criticism with a new hard-hitting TV ad that questions McCain's honor and the conduct of his campaign. “What’s happened to John McCain?” the ad asks. "He’s running ‘the sleaziest ads ever.’… After voting with Bush 90% of the time, proposing the same disastrous economic policies. It seems ‘deception' is all he has left.” But here's an important question to ask: Do campaigns that complain about tone win? Are those campaigns ahead when they complain about negativity?
For someone who prides himself on his "straight talk" -- and whose political reputation is based in part on that truth-telling reputation -- it was a brutal weekend for McCain and his campaign. The New York Times front-paged a piece noting all the criticism he has received for “stretching the truth; the Washington Post gave him “Four Pinocchios” for asserting on “The View” that Palin has never taken earmarks as Alaska’s governor; and Bloomberg News reported that the campaign may not have been exactly truthful in estimating the size of its recent crowds.
Even Karl Rove said that some of McCain’s ads have gone “beyond the 100% truth test.” Now the Obama camp is doubling down on this criticism with a new hard-hitting TV ad that questions McCain's honor and the conduct of his campaign. “What’s happened to John McCain?” the ad asks. "He’s running ‘the sleaziest ads ever.’… After voting with Bush 90% of the time, proposing the same disastrous economic policies. It seems ‘deception' is all he has left.” But here's an important question to ask: Do campaigns that complain about tone win? Are those campaigns ahead when they complain about negativity?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
