If I Were A Poor Black Kid
This content was published December 12, 2023. … There is a fuss going on about an article at Forbes magazine, If I Was A Poor Black Kid. I was reading a facebook discussion of the article, and decided I wanted to read the original. I googled white guy writing about being a poor black kid for freakin’ FORBES, and the fun began.
Angry Black Lady Chronicles tells of the day when her (white) mother took a day off, from her job as a copy editor, to get young ABL enrolled in a tougher math class. Greg Laden’s Blog chimes in with Forbes’ Gene Marks Needs To Check His Priv. The last line says it all … “Or, as in your case, not so smart but privileged.”
If you want to read the denunciations of the Forbes article, open your eyes and take a look. You might want to hurry up. Soon, there will be another article, somewhere, that people don’t like. Maybe you can talk about the War on Christmas. This is an example of Christian Privilege gone awry. It is a safe bet that many of the poor black kids are Christians. Maybe one form of privilege will outweigh another. Or people will learn about a grain of salt.
It is ironic that the piece was published in Forbes. Malcolm Forbes was fond of saying that he was loaded with “sheer ability, spelled i-n-h-e-r-i-t-a-n-c-e.” The elder Forbes had a lavish lifestyle, with Elizabeth Taylor as a beard. His son, Steve Forbes, (Malcolm Stevenson Forbes Jr.) was quoted as saying “My father once spent $5 million on a birthday party for himself in Tangiers. Why can’t I spend a few more running for President?”.
This feature was originally published in 2011 It was a simpler time. Pictures today are from the Georgia State University Library. The social media picture was taken September 4, 1947. “Capital Theater Ernest Tubb personal appearance. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Are My Racial Attitudes Your Business?
I was living my life when I saw something on facebook: “And another thing: if you are going to claim NOT to be racist, I feel like you should familiarize yourself with some contemporary writings and definitions of racism, not just what Mirriam Webster says.” The first reaction was to ignore this. If you reply to a comment about racism on facebook, you are asking for trouble. Life is too short to be wasting time on such unpleasantness.
But the thought engine had been kickstarted, and continued to idle in the background. When I pulled into the Kroger parking lot, the idea hit full force. Maybe it is none of your business.
Some people say that white people are not affected by racism. If this is the case, then why should the racial attitudes of a white person affect another white person? If a person treats you fairly, do you really need to know this person’s attitudes about race?
The fbf ex-fbf does not say what the context of this claim is. Did anyone ask you whether or not you were a racist? If not, are you assuming that they are interested? Maybe someone assumed the listener was interested. Maybe the proper response to look bored, and say TMI.
The comment mentioned “contemporary writings and definitions of racism.” Who are the people who set themselves up as arbiters about what we should think about race? What are the qualifications? Who asked them what they thought? How do we know that these people are dependable?.
Maybe the answer is to show compassion and kindness to your neighbor, and don’t worry about their racial attitudes. If you are proud of your racial attitudes, please refrain from boasting. Not everyone is interested. … This commentary was originally posted November 1, 2012. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in November 1941. “Mr. Parkie Armour, FSA borrower, Edonton Road, Greene County, Georgia” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Ta-Nehisi Coates Will Not Go Away
This content was published October 8, 2024. … The Message is a new book by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. The publishing game requires TPC to promote his book, which he is doing with gusto. It turns out this literary product is critical of Israel. Some things you are not allowed to say out loud.
One noteworthy appearance was on CBS Mornings. Tony Dokoupil gave TPC a rude greeting: “I have to say … the content of that section would not be out of place in the backpack of an extremist.” Later, Mr. Dokoupil inadvertently says something many of Israel’s neighbors might agree with: “Why does any of Israel exist? What a horrific place, committing horrific acts on a daily basis.”
Part of the problem is the high profile TPC has enjoyed as an anti-racist celebrity. Over the last few years, many “woke” people have heaped praise on the man. At the same time, more than a few people were annoyed with TPC. Saagar Enjeti had some strong comments about TPC on Breaking Points recently. What the star-making machine builds up, the star-making machine tears down.
Chamblee54 has written about TPC several times. one two three In a video about the six-letter word, TPC asserts “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you. You think you have a right to everything.”
The progressive movement in America has fought against racism, inequality, injustice, etc, for a long time. If you can look past the hypocrisy and vulgar noise, you can see some value in these efforts. Unfortunately, Israel violates many of these values in its dealings with Palestinians. This contradiction is difficult for the left to deal with.
TPC is saying things that make progressives nervous. Israel treats Palestinians horribly. The hypocrisy of the platitude spouting left is on display. Shooting the messenger is always an option.
This content was published October 12, 2024. … Today is October 12, 2024, 371 days after October 7, 2023. This week, the major point of discussion is The Message, (TM) a book by Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates. Why is a book more important than the hostages, the Palestinian/Lebanese suffering, etc, etc? TM bashing is an excellent distraction from the life/death issues here.
There are three quotes in my weekly notes. The concept here is a Saturday morning brain drop, centered around these quotes. If you want to know more, Google is there. Sometimes. Many internet gateways appear to have a pro-Israel bias. Google, for example, has an office in Tel Aviv. “Being in Israel, for lunch the Googlers can choose from three amazing restaurants, for non-kosher, kosher dairy and kosher meat.”
“Why does any of Israel exist? What a horrific place, committing horrific acts on a daily basis.” This out-of-context quote says what many people are feeling now. @tonydokoupil was interrogating TPC, on a book tour visit to CBS Mornings. Author interviews are usually boring events, and get little notice. Mr. Dokoupil, for some reason, decided to make a stink about TM, which was critical of Israel’s conduct in the West Bank.
I don’t know how major publishing works. A book is written. The process of getting from the author to the public takes time. It is not uncommon for something to have been written for a year before the book tour. It is highly probable that TM was written well before 10/7. The Israel portion of TM is about the West Bank, not Gaza. Now, the haters are making an issue about TM not mentioning 10/7. You should never let a good talking point go to waste, even if it is basically irrelevant. TM was not intended as a comprehensive history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Full Disclosure. I have not read TM, despite the best efforts of CBS Mornings. What I say here is based on what I have heard. I imagine that many more people will read TM as a result of this media event, and the twitterstorm that followed. If TM had come out, and received polite comments on tv shows, it would be forgotten by now. Hasbara® has given TM truckloads of attention. Of course, when you talk about TM, you don’t talk about the starving human shields children in Gaza, or the murdered human shields children in Lebanon. It is more fun to talk about how TPC is not giving context, about Gaza, when he writes about the suffering human shields population of the West Bank.
“Exactly a year ago, when thousands of Hamas militants crossed Israel’s border … I knew little about Israel and had no opinion about the long running conflict there.” Konstantin Vadimovich Kisin/Константин Вадимович Кисин is a youtuber. He put out a video last week, Why I’m Off the Fence About Israel’s War. The quote above is the first thing he said. I have had many arguments over Israel over the last 45 years. It must be nice to only hear Hasbara® now.
The KVK video is an exercise in logic abuse. He tries to explain apples by talking about bananas. KVK compares 10/7 to a Mexican attack on America’s southern border. Now, if terroristas were planning to storm El Paso … looking for Kinky Friedman’s anal sphinctor … American forces would know all about it, and kill everybody before they got their feet wet. Many people wonder why Israel allowed Hamas to get past their wall, but that is another subject.
”I believe the logic of this is impenetrable.” KVK inserts this bizarre comment, before going on a strawman safari. KVK offers four “justifications” for 10/7, and “debunks” them. You will have to watch the video to see what I mean. Never mind that not everyone uses these arguments. Never mind that they are not intended to “justify” 10/7, but rather to denounce the wholesale slaughter of Palestinians/Lebanese women and children. Never mind that many of the 10/7 casualties were killed by @IDF. The “Hannibal Directive” was not mentioned in any of last week’s noise.
That’s enough for one post. Like TM, this is one man’s perspective, not an context encyclopedia. If you want to hear more, you know where to look. … Big Media (BM) continues to have a symbiotic relationship with TPC. After the recent death of Charles James Kirk, TPC got a lot of attention for a spat with Ezra Klein. … The tragedy in Gaza continues, after a brief ceasefire. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Marion Post Wolcott took the social media picture in November 1939. In the Mississippi Delta. There is an ever-increasing number of Chinese grocerymen and merchants. Leland, Mississippi.” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
Pre-K Anti-Racism
The facebook meme interrupted the cheerful October apathy. The meme was about an article, My 2-Year-Old Doesn’t Seem to Care About Being Anti-Racist. The colorful graphic did not have a link to the story, so I googled the title. Soon, there were lots of options for Pre-K social justice education.
The headline story was on Slate. The format is the anxious letter to an advice columnist. The subtitle was “Have we screwed up somehow?”
“Dear Care and Feeding, My husband and I (we’re white) have a 2-year-old daughter and are doing our very best to be anti-racist parents. We’re making sure she has lots of multiracial dolls, only consumes books and TV shows with diverse characters, has no problematic Halloween costumes, and so on. But when we try to discuss issues like structural racism, intersectionality, or White fragility, she doesn’t seem at all interested. She often walks away, asks for a cookie, or even falls asleep! Have we screwed up somehow? Has society’s disdain for the perspectives of marginalized people already infected her? How do we get her to appreciate the urgency of the conversation around deconstructing white supremacy? — Anti-Racist Mom.”
This is where the free story ends. “The rest of this article is only for Slate Plus members. Sign up to get more Care and Feeding every week. For just $35 for your first year, you’ll also get…”
Some of the results are boring. Anti-Racism for Kids … Is most notable for this observation: “ ‘I don’t know that I’d sit down with a 3-year-old and say, ‘Let’s talk about racism,’ says Dr. Schonfeld.”
6 easy ways … hits on a persistent theme in woke literature. “As humans, we are hard-wired to identify with members of our own community, which is why we will never live in a post-racial society. So-called color-blindness as a parenting strategy amounts to complicity in the problem.” Somehow, being color blind is seen as a bad thing. Whatever.
The dependably woke Washington Post populates their paywall with What white parents get wrong about raising antiracist kids … “One of the biggest misconceptions white parents have is that their children don’t notice race unless it is pointed out to them. The underlying assumption is that children only become racist if they are taught to be. In fact, research clearly shows the opposite: Kids develop racial prejudice unless their parents or teachers directly engage with them about it.”
In her book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race, “Spelman College psychologist Beverly Tatum writes that “cultural racism — the cultural images and messages that affirm the assumed superiority of Whites and the assumed inferiority of people of color — is like a smog in the air. Sometimes it is so thick it is visible, other times it is less apparent, but always, day in and day out, we are breathing it in.”
“So kids breathe this racially charged air … and if their parents and teachers don’t help to explain to them what race means (and what it doesn’t), kids start to create their own narratives. They often infer that racial hierarchies exist because of innate differences between people of different races and so start to believe that whites are privileged because they are inherently better and smarter.”
Some of this material is by “experts.” There are probably people who disagree with these observations, and a lot of exceptions to the rules. I know next to nothing about raising children, and am a bad person to have opinions here. Still, I shake his head at this: “Looking for a way to talk about race with your preschooler? Try baking. Crack open a white egg and then a brown egg, and show your kid how they’re the same inside. Or you can present your child with two gifts—one wrapped in ribbons and glitter, another in crinkled newspaper. Fill the sparkly one with dirt and the other with a shiny bracelet. Then get the conversation going: ‘Can you really judge what’s inside by the outside?'”
Or this. “White- centeredness is not the reality of [the white child’s] world, but he is under the illusion that it is. It is thus impossible for him to deal accurately or adequately with the universe of human and social relationships.” If you were to substitute black for white here, someone would call you racist. And they would be correct. Sweeping generalization, based on skin color, usually are.
The last result on page one is an NPR interview with children’s author Renee Watson, and Ibram X. Kendi. “I want to go back to “Hair Love.” I think it’s important to bring in books that allow readers to see black people living their everyday lives. We don’t want to teach children that black pain and struggle is the only part of black life. But I also think it’s important to just let young people see that black people live lives. And they do their hair. And they play outside. And they have fun and that is an important part of the conversation, too.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. John Vachon took the social media picture in January 1941. “Steelworkers in beer parlor. Ambridge, Pennsylvania” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
The Scarlet R
This content was originally posted October 4, 2016. … Bloggingheads.tv released a chat with Glenn Loury and John McWhorter. With the election 35 days away, there was lots of talk about Donald and Hillary. It only took 1:44, to learn what is expected. The assignment is to call DJT a racist, and lament what a terrible thing that is. This is political discourse in 2016.
At 3:28, there was an aha moment. The line was that DJT, instead of an orange haired ogre, was really just a seventh grade bully. When I was in seventh grade, there was a mean person who gave him problems. This individual is now a facebook friend, and regularly posts memes supporting DJT. I like to know what the “other side” thinks. Ignoring the memes is always an option.
At 9:22, the importance of identifying racism in others is stressed. This is said to totally justify the appeal of DJT. Once you call someone a racist, you no longer have to work to understand their motives. When the scarlet R is super glued to somebody, that is all you need to know.
The Scarlet Letter is the rip roaring tale of Hester Prynne. She got caught fooling around, and had the scarlet A, for adultery, pinned to her chest. It was pinned to her chest, and she could see who did the pinning. In today’s “woke” world, the scarlet R, for racist, is super glued to the back of the terrible person. The person never knows who gave them this dreaded, irrevocable, label.
At 21:28, John tells an amusing story. He was talking to a well meaning white woman, said to be helpful in selling more books. At some point, the woman felt obligated to say that “we don’t like to talk about race.” John was too polite to laugh in her face.
The truth is that talking about race is the new national pastime. Does anyone listen? In all that talk, is anything worthwhile said? These questions are considered rude, and probably racist.
At 31:09, John said the n word. It is not known whether it ended with -er, or with -a. Since John is a POC, he has permission. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Dorothea Lange took the social media picture in November 1938. “Sunday morning, Kern County, California. Many Texans, Oklahomans, Arkansans are settling in this county. Their cultures and forms of religious expression are being transferred with them” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
One More Chat About Racism
It was a typical morning. Work on pictures, and listen to audio product. I was tired of youtube suggestions, and chose to listen to RISK. The first story is a South Asian lady, Nimisha, going to have lunch with her Jewish mother in law, Elaine. The two ladies have an uneasy relationship. Before the wedding, Elaine asked David, her son, if Nimisha was black. (Did David have a black girlfriend before this?) Nimisha was upset when she heard about this. Now Nimisha was going to have lunch with a RAY-SISST. It is not known if Nimisha ever called Elaine a racist to her face.
I am tired of hearing people referred to as racist. Since there were plenty of other shows to listen to, I turned off the story. A few minutes later, I wondered what I was missing, and turned on the story again. Soon enough, Nimisha complained about going to lunch with a RAY-SISST again. I pushed forward, and listened to the next story. It was about an experience at an AA meeting in Los Angeles. I wanted to share the story with a friend in the AA program. Here is the email I sent with the link.
This is a link to a story. It is an AA war story. It starts at 20 minutes. There is another story here. The first story in this show is about an Indian lady, who does not like her Jewish mother in law. At ten minutes into the show, the bride says “I am going to have to spend the day with a racist.” At this point, I turned off the show in anger. I am sensitive to the term racist, for perfectly obvious reasons. I did not want to listen to the rest of the show. When I decided to send you the link, I had to listen to the part of the show around the 20 minute mark, so I could know when the war story started. I set the timer for 18 minutes, and listened to the end of the mother in law story. There is a twist in the story, and everyone is friends now. The bride says “I am ashamed of reducing her to her racism.”
David, Elaine, and Nimisha went to a deli in New York. Nimisha (who seems to have other entitlement issues) is militantly vegetarian, and not pleased with the deli. At one point, Elaine orders a sandwich “bigger than her fist,” and starts to, accidentally, spit bits of meat in Nimisha’s face. Next, Nimisha looks at Elaine, who has tears in her eyes. Elaine thanks Nimisha for coming to lunch. Nimisha looks at her hand, which has an engagement ring once owned by Elaine. Nimisha realizes that Elaine is more than her comment about race, and is actually a pretty good lady. End of story. Elaine is much more than a racist, she is the mother of David.
The real fun starts when I post the email to RISK! Podcast Fans Discussion Group on facebook. People are proud of calling *others* racist. When you suggest that this is not a good idea, they get angry. WAAAAA!!! He said I can’t say wassist!!! WAAAA!!! I have heard the r-word many times. I was not in the mood to hear a vegetarian princess repeat that slur about her mother in law.
As you may imagine, the facebook conversation got ugly. The 2018 post has TLDR quotes from this discussion. When people want to be seen as fighting racism, they behave badly. “The behavior described in the story was racist. I don’t know you or your circumstances, but your words so far seem to imply that you’re more offended by the word “racist” than actual racism.”
“you’re more offended by the word “racist” than actual racism.” This is a common comment in social justice discussions. “Imagine it happening all the time, simply because of the color of your skin. What you’re experiencing right now is *nothing* compared to what people of color experience daily.” The simple truth is that two wrongs do not make a right. Insulting a white person, by calling them racist, will have little impact on creating economic opportunity, or curtailing police brutality. Saying racist is merely a couple of kids on the playground swapping insults. To pretend otherwise, to confuse name calling for effective social justice action, is an exercise in self delusion.
People in discussions about racist/racism often feel the need to demonstrate their distaste for racism. Usually it is without being asked. People just assume they need to signal virtue, and are offended if someone abstains. “Being racist is wrong. Full stop. I’m not sure if we’re on the same page about that, but in case my thoughts weren’t clear, there they are.”
When you challenge the performative nature of racist citing, you can expect feedback. “I don’t understand this post. But i fully support the continued and loud-mouthed calling out and labeling of racists wherever they be, regardless of some feathers getting ruffled. Had the protagonist of this story been correct in her assumption, i wouldn’t be holding it against her. In this case she made an assumption and was corrected by facts, but i certainly don’t hold the using of that term against her.” ” “ritual condemnation of racism” is a funny way to put it, as if condemning such is a kind of bigotry. It’s not a “performance” when I condemn it. Um… I MEAN it.”
Why are people, mostly white, so eager to demonstrate their distaste for what they perceive as racism? This virtue signalling is to be loud, and must be seen and heard by others. Maybe this virtue signalling is not done for the benefit of others. Maybe the white savior is trying to reassure themself that they are not racist. They are like the homophobe who badmouths gays to cover up for his own repressed homosexual desires. Is the white savior a closet racist?
The problem with anti-racism was published by chamblee54 a few years ago, when a dark skinned man was POTUS. It discusses the closet racist concept, and other ways in which anti-racism is detrimental to society. After a 2014 repost, chamblee54 received a remarkable bit of confirmation. An anonymous commenter, speaking from an .edu address, said “why don’t you get your white sheets and come out.” Since this comment was made by a white cis male (the last time I had contact with them), it might not be appropriate to respond “I am so sorry that you felt racially targeted by me. Can you please help me understand what I did to make you feel that way?”
I made one last comment in the facebook thread. It is unlikely that he changed any minds. The concept that the word racist is offensive to human beings, and should be used with caution, is alien to many people. It might be compared to telling a person sixty years ago that saying the n-word is a bad idea. Here is the closing comment. “There is going to be a blog post about this discussion, which will answer a few of those questions. Or, and this is more likely, merely raise more. I have known many, many POC. Friends, enemies, good people, terrible people, and a thousand levels in between. In the end, it is my experience. I don’t even understand it myself. I cannot expect someone who reads a facebook thread to understand my life. I just get tired of the promiscuous, boastful, performative use of the r word. Nothing good comes of it.”
In typical blogger fashion, I gave two links. “This post Are my attitudes about race any of your business, might help explain a bit of this.” “Here is another post that might help, James Baldwin and the six letter word. (This post makes an amusing connection between the n-word, and the r-word. The words of James Baldwin were used, perhaps in a way the author would not have intended.) … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Esther Bubley took the social media picture in September 1943. “A Greyhound bus that has been stopped while the driver fills the water tank at a gas station on the road between Gettysburg and Pennsylvania” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah
#1619Gate Part Three
When we last checked in on @nhannahjones, she was at the center of a national hissy fit about tenure. This is not usually a hot button issue, but people enjoy controversy. In the few weeks since then, there have been some developments.
“Nikole Hannah-Jones will not join UNC-Chapel Hill faculty without tenure” This was the day before the chamblee54 piece. “In their letter, Hannah-Jones’s legal team argues information was withheld from her when she signed her fixed-term contract with the school.”
“Deadline set for lawsuit in Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure controversy” “On Thursday, attorneys … sent a letter to Charles Marshall, the school’s vice chancellor and general counsel. The letter laid out Hannah-Jones’ case and demanded UNC-Chapel Hill make good on what they said was its initial offer of a tenured position for Hannah-Jones … “We intend to bring litigation to vindicate Ms. Hannah-Jones’ rights under federal and state law. This letter is to demand that UNC take immediate action to remedy its conduct to avoid suit by making an unconditional offer to Ms. Hannah-Jones of a tenured appointment as full professor no later than June 4, 2021.”
If you want to make a bad situation worse, have your attorney give an ultimatum. This correspondent is not a lawyer, and was not privy to the negotiations. Is mentioning tenure during contract negotiations a valid reason to break the contract? The dispute went back and forth for a few weeks, and was the occasion for much recreational outrage.
UNC trustees grant tenure to Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The 1619 Project, after weeks of criticism The journalist celebrated on twitter. There were some hints she would not take the job.
Nikole Hannah-Jones chooses to teach at Howard over UNC-Chapel Hill Ms. Hannah-Jones went on “CBS This Morning” to announce her decision. She said, regarding the initial offer, “I accepted it.” As for why she was denied tenure: “It’s pretty clear that my tenure was not taken up because of political opposition, because of discriminatory views against my viewpoint, and, I believe, my race and my gender.” Ms. Hannah-Jones’s hair was less orange than it was in the graduation gown picture.
This feature will not discuss whether she should have received tenure, or the reasons for this denial. These issues have been discussed, at obnoxious length, elsewhere. Nor will it discuss the shady behavior of the “Slanderous & nasty-minded mulattress.” (When researching this post, a copy was made of the NHJ twitter profile. It included “Knight Chair @unchussman.” The profile has since been updated. NHJ is known for “revising” her twitter account.)
The issue today is fulfilling your contractual obligations. Her legal team admits “Since signing the fixed-term contract, Ms. Hannah-Jones has …” The time to DEMAND tenure is before you sign a five year contract. Given the ethical issues with The 1619 Project, this should not be surprising. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. More #1619Gate episodes are available: 092229 052321 011922 012222 This is a repost. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025
Six Letter Slurs
In the spring of 1963, KQED filmed a show, “Take This Hammer”, about James Baldwin. The snippet in the video above seems to have been the last three minutes of the show. Here is a transcript. Mr. Baldwin discusses a six letter insult. The n-word is more about the speaker, than the spoken of. A 2010 blogger had this to say.
“I’ve often felt that people’s projections of me are oftentimes just that – their projections. However, Baldwin’s ending sums up a solution to this perfectly: “But you still think, I gather, that the n****r is necessary. Well he’s unnecessary to me – he must be necessary to you. Well, I’m going to give your problem back to you…you’re the n****r, baby…not me.”
It is now 2025. (All discussions of race must mention the year.) The TV show was sixty two years ago. A few things have changed. To many white people, overt expressions of racism are seen as bad manners. The n-word is taboo in polite company. The overall attitudes may not have changed, but most white people are careful how they say things. … A few weeks ago, this blog published a feature, James Baldwin And The Six Letter Word. At the center was selection of James Baldwin talking about the n word. There was a transcript available, which makes today’s exercise a lot easier.
Mr. Baldwin was discussing this nasty word, and offered an insight into who the user of this nasty word was really talking about. Now, there is another nasty word being casually tossed about these days. This other nasty word is racist. What would happen if you took Mr. Baldwin’s talk, and substituted racist for nasty? It is an interesting way to look at things. What follows is not a perfect fit, and may be offensive to some. At times, it is very close to the truth.
Racist and n****r have a curious relationship. Both words have six letters. One starts with r, while the other ends with r. One I am forbidden to say, one I am forbidden to not say. Both can be hurtful to the reciever, in different ways. One has been “reclaimed” by the target population, and endlessly repeated. Our society would be better off without either word being used.
Who is the racist? Well I know this…and anybody who has tried to live knows this. What you say about somebody else (you know) anybody else, reveals you. What I think of you as being is dictated by my own necessities, my own psychology, my own fears and desires. I’m not describing you when I talk about you…I’m describing me.
Now, here in this country we got somebody called a racist. It doesn’t in such terms, I beg you to remark, exist in any other country in the world. We have invented the racist. I didn’t invent him, white people invented him. I’ve always known, I had to know by the time I was seventeen years old, what you were describing was not me and what you were afraid of was not me. It had to be something else. You had invented it so it had to be something you were afraid of and you invested me with it.
Now if that’s so, no matter what you’ve done to me I can say to you this, and I mean it…I know you can’t do any more and I’ve got nothing to lose…and I know and I have always known you know and really always..…I have always known that I am not a racist … but if I am not the racist … and if it is true that your invention reveals you … then who is the racist?
I am not the victim here. I know one thing from another. I know that I was born, am gonna suffer and gonna die. And the only way that you can get through life is to know the worst things about it. I know that a person is more important than anything else. Anything else. I’ve learned this because I’ve had to learn it. But you still think, I gather, that the racist is necessary. Well he’s not necessary to me, so he must be necessary to you. So I give you your problem back. You’re the racist baby, it isn’t me.
This content was originally posted in 2013. 071813 091013 Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. These men were soldiers in the War Between the States. ©Luther Mckinnon 2025
White Supremacy Culture
This is a repost from 2023. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the featured photograph in February 1940. “Son of Pomp Hall, Negro tenant farmer, feeding his father’s mule. Creek County OK.” “Really intense accusations” against journalists continue.
@jessesingal “2/ It is genuinely bizarre. In the case of journalists, they are making these really intense accusations against other journalists and they get super pissed when you ask them for specific examples.” @chamblee54 “Asking for specific examples is white supremacy culture.”@NotaNeoLiberal1 “And most certainly a trait from someone imbued with colonizer ideology.” The @chamblee54 comment got 115 likes. @dcherring “lol.”
“White Supremacy Culture is a form of racism centered upon the belief that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds and that whites should politically, economically, and socially dominate non-whites. While often associated with violence perpetrated by the KKK and other white supremacist groups, it also describes a political ideology and systemic oppression that perpetuates and maintains the social, political, historical and/or industrial white domination.” This is a typical description of WSC. It does not make a lot of sense. WSC is connected to WS, which is essentially anything that you say it is.
Most WSC talk centers this list of characteristics. It is from “Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups, by Kenneth Jones and Tema Okun, 2001.” There is a list of items that WSC embodies. “the belief that there is such a thing as being objective” “equating individual acts of unfairness against white people with systemic racism which daily targets people of color.”
@chamblee54 first became aware of WSC by reading about the PRX Racism Scandal. PRX is a foundation-funded organization that assists public radio endeavors. A young lady of color, Palace Shaw, quit her job at PRX, and issued a viral letter about her experience. PRX CEO Kerri Hoffman touching Palace Shaw’s hair was the first issue addressed in the viral letter. FWIW, this list of WSC characteristics does not include hair-touching.
“Everyone at PRX should know that each characteristic on the list of White Supremacy Culture Characteristics is fully expressed in the workplace … For current donors/financial supporters: How much would you be willing to increase your current pledge if PRX makes necessary changes to address its white supremacy culture?”
FWIW, Tema Okun, the author of White Supremacy Culture Resources, has second thoughts about the way her work is used. One article is hidden behind a message: “This is not a paywall.” There is no discussion on whether paywalls are a part of WSC.
Yasser
This is a repost from 2010. There are thousands of stories like this in West Asia. … There is a story in a New York Times “blog” about a man, Yasser, who died in a bombing, in Baghdad, the other day. With all the talk about “the surge winning the war”, this is a sad story. It would be a sad story without the happy talk about victory.
Yasser_____ ( use of his last name would endanger his family) worked for a London news service. His Shiite family moved out of a mixed neighborhood during the civil war, only to move back after things calmed down a bit. The blog story tells a few things about him…he was brave, friendly, and useless in the kitchen… This was another human being. And now he is a statistic.
There is a sense in America that the wars are a game. The lower price of gas, and spreading democracy to Babylon, make it all worthwhile. Arabs and Persians are seen as somehow less than human, as towelheads and terrorists. These people are human, and have paid a fierce price for our experiment.
HT to Iraqimojo for the story. … In a digital miracle, the story from Iraqi Mojo is available in 2025. There is an ironic comment: said… “Thank you Mojo for linking to Stephen Farrell’s fine post about his friend and fellow journalist, Yasser. It was very moving and tells us of the price paid by those who risk their lives to bring us the news. The list of journalists murdered by Al Qaida and their fellow terrorists from Daniel Pearl beheaded in Pakistan in early 2002 to Yasser is a tragically long one and reminds us of why Al Qaida and its allies must be defeated.” David All 1/27/10, 4:35 PM
A lot has happened in the last fifteen years. Recently, the government in Syria was overthrown. As with all such events, it is tough to know exactly what happened. It is highly likely that the forces currently in control of Syria had American support. It is also all but certain that these forces have strong ties to Al Qaida. There is a revolving door between enemy and ally, and vice versa.
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. The featured photograph was taken by Jack Delano in September 1941. “Merrymakers at the World’s Fair in Tunbridge, Vermont”
Racist Romance Writer Smackdown
In twitterland, there is a list of trending topics. The other day, the top trend was #IStandWithCourtney. The trend topping #ISWC tweet: Jingle Elle Maruska (they/them) @ellle_em “#IStandWithCourtney Calling out racism is not being racist Pointing out someone’s unethical behavior is not being unethical I stand with Courtney because white feelings are in no way more important than fighting for marginalized people’s right to exist in any & all spaces.” If you think you know where this is headed, you are probably correct. This is a repost from 2019.
Perez Hilton puts it all in a nutshell. “What’s it all about? It’s about racism, injustice, and of course erotic tales of ribald fantasy. Yep, it’s drama in the world of romance novelists! This month the Romance Writers of America suspended author Courtney Milan (presumably asking her to turn in her badge and her quill) over what they called a violation of their code of ethics.”
“So what had Milan, the author of such historical Harlequins as A Kiss For Midwinter … done to deserve this literary excommunication? Apparently fellow novelists Suzan Tisdale (Secrets of the Heart) and Kathryn Lynn Davis (Too Deep For Tears) filed a formal complaint over a twitter thread … in which Milan — a Chinese American author — called out one of Davis’ books for being racist.”
Smart Bitches has more on this bodice-ripping badass, with documentation galore. Davis complaint, Tisdale complaint I, Tisdale complaint II RWA ethics committee report “whether it’s a publishing house deciding that a contract with a white supremacist is a good idea, or a writer’s organization deciding that white supremacy is the right decision ethically.”
The twitter thread is can’t-miss reading. @courtneymilan read a sample of Somewhere lies the moon. There was a twitter reaction, that will live in infamy. @courtneymilan “And we’ve been talking about Sue Grimshaw? Someone sent me a link to a book written by the other editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis, and is a fucking racist mess.”
The Davis complaint notes that the Milan opinion is based on reading a sample of SLTM. By her own admission, @courtneymilan did not finish the sample, much less read the book. @courtneymilan “Here’s the book. I didn’t finish the sample. I didn’t need to.”
Racism smackdown fans are probably asking, what was so fucking racist messy about SLTM? The accuser is Chinese-American, as is the racially besmirched character. No forbidden words, beginning with N, were used. It is not that type of racism.
The damning nanoagressions are documented in a series of tweets. Here are a few. The part following a link is by @courtneymilan. Transcribed screen shots are identified as (SS). If you click on the link, you can see the entire screen shot. This might help you understand the situation better.
@courtneymilan “This book is like a bingo card of OH GOD DID YOU REALLY. Start out with the heroine, who is the obligatory blue-eyed half-Chinese woman.” (SS) “Lian was twenty-five, tall and lithe, with the thick black hair and bronze skin of the Chinese”@courtneymilan “I mean…. that doesn’t really happen. (Genevra is half-Indian and also blue-eyed.) But also… like. Of course. This is like such a standard racist trope. WHY.”
@courtneymilan “Here is our half-Chinese woman remembering her past, where she is explicitly told that the future is the West, and that for Chinese women, compliance is the rule. SIGH.” (SS)”I am a captive of my own history, but I have raised you to be free, to move forward toward the future – and the future is the West.” “I was no’ askin’ what your parents wanted, but what ye want for yourself” “It is not important. It is not a question I ask myself. In China Shun, compliance, is the rule for women”
@courtneymilan “Here she is, meeting another Chinese family in London. I’m gonna be honest: I don’t know how I feel about “bronze” as the “standard” for Chinese skin (prior tweets), but I *do* know how I feel about “yellow.” And about almond eyes.” (SS) “…their thick blue-black hair and bronze faces, turned slightly yellow by the London climate, were unmistakably Chinese, as were their slanted almond eyes” @courtneymilan “Note that this in Lian’s point of view. She was raised in China. She only describes the Chinese people by skin color/eye slant, not the white people. She’s literally describing absolutely normal people to her as if she were a white woman talking about a foreigner.”
@courtneymilan “Oh, I was searching for something else and found this: In China, women didn’t learn anything.” (SS) “In China, no woman was taught much more than cooking and sewing and the graceful art of pleasing her husband.” Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
The Ta-Nehisi Coates Video
This is a repost from 2017. Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates recently published The Message. One essay in TM described living conditions in the West Bank. The book was condemned as antisemitic. … There is a video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone. It is being praised to high heaven. The transcript is from Vox. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress.
TPC gave an interview once, The Playboy Interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates. (The link no longer works.) “The n***** thing? I understand if you’re black and you say, “Man, I had white people call me this shit all my life. They called me this shit when they hit me upside the head, and I don’t want to hear it.” I understand that. But that ain’t everybody’s experience. I’ve never had a white person call me a n*****. I had somebody call me le négre here in France, but I was 38 years old and I couldn’t have cared less. It didn’t mean anything. So not all of us come out of that experience.”
The monolog starts off with a discussion about how some words are appropriate for some people to use, but others should not say them. “My wife, with her girl friend, will use the word bitch. I do not join in. You know what I’m saying? I don’t do that. I don’t do that. And perhaps more importantly, I don’t have a desire to do it.” The question arises: is his wife a four legged dog? Unless she is, then the b-word does not apply to her.
“Coates pointed to another example — of a white friend who used to have a cabin in upstate New York that he called “the white trash cabin.” “I would never refer to that cabin” in that way. I would never tell him, ‘I’m coming to your white trash cabin.’” Of course, a person with an upstate cabin is likely to be far removed from the trailer park. He is using *white trash* with irony, and would not be the least offended if TPC called it “the white trash cabin.”
“The question one must ask is why so many white people have difficulty extending things that are basic laws of how human beings interact to black people.” … “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you. You think you have a right to everything. … You’re conditioned this way. It’s not because your hair is a texture or your skin is light. It’s the fact that the laws and the culture tell you this. You have a right to go where you want to go, do what you want to do, be however — and people just got to accommodate themselves to you.”
At this point, I turned off the video in anger. I have never been taught that everything belongs to me. Nobody that I know has been taught that. I do not know anyone who teaches that message. This is a lie. It makes me not want to believe anything else that TPC says. Maybe there is some privilege/culture mumbo-jumbo that explains this, but I am not buying it.
Lets go back a minute to the white trash cabin. TPC does not want to use this phrase. And yet, he feels entitled to make a sweeping generalization like “When you’re white in this country, you’re taught that everything belongs to you.” It is wrong to say white trash, but ok to slander white people.
“So here comes this word that you feel like you invented, And now somebody will tell you how to use the word that you invented. ‘Why can’t I use it? Everyone else gets to use it. You know what? That’s racism that I don’t get to use it. You know, that’s racist against me. You know, I have to inconvenience myself and hear this song and I can’t sing along. How come I can’t sing along?’”
“The experience of being a hip-hop fan and not being able to use the word ‘ni**er’ is actually very, very insightful.” To begin with, why do you assume that I am a hip hop fan? Many people do not enjoy hip hop. And so, if you are forced to listen to music that you don’t like, how does that make you want to use a word that degrades the user? The logic of TPC is falling apart faster than the Falcons pass defense in the Super Bowl.
“It will give you just a little peek into the world of what it means to be black. Because to be black is to walk through the world and watch people doing things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do. So I think there’s actually a lot to be learned from refraining.”
If you are in the mood to get yelled at for a half hour, you can ask someone about “things that you cannot do, that you can’t join in and do.” There might be some. If you go along with the rhetoric so far, you will probably believe what you hear. You might even understand why not using a nasty word will give you “a little peek into the world of what it means to be black.” As for me, seriously doubts remain. I am not someone who says that this video is “an incredibly clear explanation for why white people shouldn’t use the n-word.”
Once upon a time, cigarettes were advertised on television. One new brand was a cigarette for women, Virginia Slims. The ability to kill yourself with tobacco was presented as being a privilege. Some wondered why women would want to take up this filthy habit. Today, African Americans have the privilege of using the n-word. What a deal. A nasty word, which degrades both the speaker, and the spoken of. Why would anyone want to use that word?
If you don’t have anything good to say, you can talk about the n-word. This *trigger* word is an aphrodisiac for the american body politic. Recently Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates performed in a video, Ta-Nehisi Coates on words that don’t belong to everyone There is much praise for this entertainment, like this: @SneakerWonk “#TaNehisiCoates has an incredibly clear #explanation for why #whitepeople shouldnt use the #nword.” I have a few paragraphs about this video, in the text above.
I have written about racism, anti-racism, and racial attitudes on many occasions. Sometime people get angry, and call me rude names. More often, I am ignored. Once, there was a double feature about James Baldwin. In the first half, Mr. Baldwin expresses a few opinions about those six letters. In the second half, I substitute racist for the magic word, with amusing results.
One item that keeps coming up is speculation about who invented the n-word. Negro means black in Spanish, and is derived from a latin word. The Oxford English Dictionary has some usages going back to 1577. “1577 E. Hellowes tr. A. de Guevara Familiar Epist. (new ed.) 389 The Massagetes bordering vpon the Indians, and the Nigers of Aethiop [Sp. los negros en Ethiopia], bearing witnesse. ~ 1584 R. Scot Discouerie Witchcraft vii. xv. 153 A skin like a Niger. ~ 1608 A. Marlowe Let. 22 June in E. India Co. Factory Rec. (1896) I. 10 The King and People [of ‘Serro Leona’] N*****, simple and harmless.
The TPC video is based on the concept that white people want to use the magic word, but should not. This assumes a great deal. Chamblee54 published a piece about the n-word, that spelled out why he does not like to use this noun/verb/adjective/adverb/interjection. Here are four reasons for a white person to refrain from saying america’s favorite dirty word.
1- The n-word hurts people’s feelings. I have known many fine Black people. I do not want to say anything that will hurt these people.
2- Being heard saying the n-word can cause all sorts of problems. This can include physical retribution, loss of employment, lawsuits, and having to listen to enough loud angry words to make you wish you had never learned how to talk.
3- It is not a fair fight. There is no equivalent phrase for a Black Person to say to a White person. Why give that power to another group of people … to turn you into a mass of incoherent rage, just for hearing a six letter word. The closest thing is “Cracker,” which I only recently found out was an insult. There used to be a minor league baseball team, the Atlanta Crackers.
4- The use of the n-word demeans the user. When you say an insulting word about another human being, you make yourself look bad. Many feel that using the n-word degrades the person who uses it. Why would a person would want to do that?
Chamblee54 
leave a comment