Zachary Goldfarb in the Washington Post:
When he speaks later this month on the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Obama will be at the confluence of efforts to reduce racial and economic divisions. As the president addresses a crowd from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, current and former advisers say, he will want to impress upon listeners how progress toward racial equality will require progress toward economic equality. Obama, who keeps a framed program from the “March on Washington” in the Oval Office, has said he has often reminded people that the march was as much about what he called economic justice as a demonstration for civil rights... Many of the most overt forms of racial discrimination and bias have faded, but yawning economic gaps have persisted since 1963, and there has been essentially no narrowing of the unemployment gap between blacks and whites. The financial crisis and recession scarred minorities more than any one else.Brad Plummer in the Post's Wonkblog illustrates some of the stark realities of this racial inequity in a string of charts, among which are these:
4 comments:
Answer me this Dale. Do you seriously believe that there is redemption for this country, for America, and for the world? The foundation of the world system that envelops all of civilization today, that we are currently living in, is based on racism, and economic stratification. And that in turn is deeply rooted, entrenched and supported in the political systems and processes of the world civilizations, each of them. Most of the world today subscribes to the same economic system and theory, and even have similar politics. So how you even think that through politics and legislation things will change in any drastic or noticeable way is beyond me. All that the people get through political legislation after legislation after legislation are bones, scraps and placation loooong after the fact well documented and profitable crimes have taken place. In most cases the wronged group receives nothing. No Dale, you are naive to think real change will come through politics. Violent rebellion is an inevitable consequence of past and even current misdeeds and crimes. Violence will bring about the new world, on the ashes of this one. May the people who do this act sanely, think deeply, and actually establish and put in practice the promises the white European men and women of the enlightenment set out to do. They not only failed but were hypocritical. May future rebels not fall into the same pit.
Yes, how I think about politics is indeed beyond you. Good luck with your bragging about blowing things up plan.
Ah, do I sense a bit of snark in your reply? Dale let's be real here. America was a country built by stuff blowing up. Every nation on earth was built through bloody conflict. The American revolution was all about the colonists blowing things up in a push to reject British authority and oust them. "Politics" and "civilization" always comes after the fact of brutal conflict and horrendous crime. And if the people don't like the new order, are unsatisfied and are actually being duped and exploited then we have every right to overthrow that defunct order. Look at the charts you posted Dale. Those issues are not new. They have been going on for hundreds of years, even while much legislation has been passed, the situations remain essentially the same, year after year, chart after damn chart, because no matter how much legislation is passed no matter what the face of politics in America, it's central tenet, established many years before our existences have not changed, and so long as America continues it will not change. Thomas Jefferson believed that there should be a revolution every generation, of course realizing he had much to profit from entrenching himself with the power structure he helped in building, he reneged on that pivotal idea, being a slave owner probably had something to do with that. Nothing is seen as wrong in what the rebels of the 1700's did, but to even consider the possibility of doing the same as they did today, seems unfathomable to you. This is patently ridiculous. You may simply dismiss this as terrorism as the politicians so conveniently do. But really this aint about that. It's about the right for self determination and freedom from the tyranny of power structures. The so-called "terrorists" are the ones forging a new reality for the future. Even the terrorists and rebels whose ideas are utterly ridiculous and outlandish, to me, are admirable because they are willing to die for what they believe and have the guts to press for irreversible change. They are the ones creating history and the fertile ground for rich new possibilities like the colonists did here. Not intellectuals like you. Not politicians. Not protesters. Not "spiritual leaders". But those who are willing to war and lay down their lives. You intellectuals may lay down the theory but the rebels and "terrorists" actually put them into practice and live, breathe, and die for those ideas and ideals. And that is what we need so desperately in the America now. How you think about politics is not beyond me and my ability to comprehend them and reason them out. Your adherence to the so-called political process and so-called non-violence is admirable. What is beyond my comprehension is how when being confronted with the facts and issues of the horrendous reality of it all and the fact that nothing really has changed in all these years of the so-called political process you simply and arrogantly dismiss them. Politics is not the answer. Rebellion is.
Gee, who knew? Go rebel, now. You're boring everybody.
Post a Comment