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The two are so incredibly intertwined given our history that it's hard to separate them. While I think talking about race without talking about class is a huge
by heterodoxxed 5y ago
The two are so incredibly intertwined given our history that it's hard to separate them. While I think talking about race without talking about class is a huge mistake, it's also a mistake to think that class in a way that doesn't take race into consideration.
For instance, AAVE is seen as "low class" despite there being plenty of speakers of it who are not lower class at all.
The kind of racial reductionism we've seen come from (often well-to-do) liberal circles that presents being white (or not Black) no matter the class background as a walk in the park is a dead end of course, but we have to be careful to recognize that there are a number of structural racial problems that don't always have a targeted class character (unless you get to the very upper echelons of wealth).
That said, the popular discourse in America is woefully under-prepared to understand class divisions between and within racial groups. That lack of nuanced discussion is why we end up favoring an understanding that is fully rooted in upper-middle-class experiences and study.
A Black writer who grew up poor, went to a city college and still lives in their neighborhood will never get an op-ed position at the New York Times no matter how good of a writer they are, so their experience gets completely lost in the mainstream, despite being so important to understanding class and race in America.
- vmception 5y agoYes, and on your first point I think this will be a recurring addendum to my post. My point is that we must address the class issue between and within racial groups or simply put: American culture. It requires compartmentalizing and understanding this more heavily, instead of looking only at the result. We are chiseling at the top of an iceberg, trying to trace backwards and assuming people feel a way that many otherwise supportive people really don't feel, instead of tackling a root cause.
- hnxs 5y agoI think class is primarily dictated by three things on a superficial level, e.g ten minutes or less of a first interaction with someone: - How you speak - How you dress - How physically attractive you are, specifically in regards to things like height, fitness, and angular features. Skin color takes a backseat to these factors in the modern era
- throwawayboise 5y agoI'd say it's more like 10 seconds, maybe even less than that, but I agree.
- TameAntelope 5y agoYes, with the addendum of, "If any of these things place you into a minority community, you immediately lose." What is "good speech"? What is "good dress"? What is "attractive"? To much of society, those answers are, "Whatever sounds/looks like the popular culture I consume." and that's a problem.
- hnxs 5y agoImagine you are someone who lives in Beijing meeting a person from the Chinese countryside for the first time. That should help you come up with answers to your questions.