Monday, April 17, 2006

Nancy and Spartacus

Hi Spartacus.

Jefferson thought...as I recall... that freedom had to be renewed with the blood of true patriots. (or some similar quote)

I have been fascinated of late with moments frozen in time. That is to say, a failure on the part of civil rights leaders to extend the movement to a larger audience instead of stay arrested with the rhetoric of the 60s. I attended a Human Rights Commission hearing and was STUNNED at the number people who testified that sounded just like they were COMPLAINING in a reverse racist way, rather than addressing issues and standing tall. Wow.

AND the inability we have to confront elements of hate and racism in religion.
tw mom 04.17.06 - 9:55 pm #

Hi Nancy,

Reading James Forman's memoir of organizing in Mississippi in the early 1960s, makes it clear that the students and residents working with SNCC were cognizant of the broader movement for universal human rights of which their more restricted civil rights objectives were a part. This was no accident, though, but rather a consequence of a concerted effort to include political education along side their desegregation and voter registration projects.

Part of the problem with the stagnant rhetoric you've observed, is that once the basic civil rights objectives were achieved legislatively, the financial resources for popular education on the topic of liberation--briefly provided by churches, unions, and otheral liberal institutions--dried up. Thus, since 1970, three decades have elapsed during which time the only money that's gone into "education" has been for archconservative brainwashing.

This whole anti-affirmative action backlash, or reverse racism as you call it, is a product of this psychological warfare by the far right, which is long-accustomed to acting out fantasies of Christian persecution and white victimhood. The inability of liberals to confront this pathetic whining by conservatives is a direct result of the lack of investment in prodemocratic ideas since Goldwater lost to Johnson in 1964.

Talk about resting on their laurels.
spartacus Homepage 04.17.06 - 11:00 pm #

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