4 ms·

You know both can be true, and majority of the racial disparities are deeply tied with race in America.

by theklr 5y ago

Spooky23 5y ago
Absolutely a valid point. To me though, highlighting race also reinforces stereotypes. We americans like to pretend that class differences don’t exist when clearly they do.
- beckman466 5y ago
  i agree with you that socio-economic class (propertied vs. non-propertied) is the most important 'outermost' layer of any critique of the existing capitalist power relations, yet help me understand your thinking here: > To me though, highlighting race also reinforces stereotypes. what's the alternative? so called 'color-blindness'? [1] what stereotypes are reenforced by mentioning race/ethnicity when discussing relations of power? right now it sounds like you're trying to refute structural racism. > We americans like to pretend that class differences don’t exist when clearly they do. i agree with you that class consciousness is low, yet both critiques/angles can exist/meet/intersect. that's what intersectionality is for. [1] an example of where this leads: "[...] the organization was informed by a form of “colorblind” Marxism that was incapable of dealing with the realities of racial divisions in the class structure of the United States. While more progressive on issues of race than other political parties in the United States, the WPUS/SLP ultimately failed to make a connection with the black working class, a grouping in society that had shown itself to have enormous revolutionary potential in the period of Reconstruction. While standing for class unity and recognizing the need for inter-racial organization, the WPUS/SLP ideology under closer scrutiny reveals an inability to recognize that black workers in the United States faced a form of oppression that was unique to their racial status, with white supremacy acting as a key linchpin in the class structure of US capitalism. This “color-blind” socialism was ultimately incapable of resonating with black workers. It also falsely expected the proletariat to organically unite under economic pressures as it grew as a class, responding to immiseration and crisis in an almost automatic way. This was a vision that was incapable of taking into account the role of white supremacy in dividing the US working class to develop a strategy that could effectively win the most oppressed sections of the proletariat to socialist politics." https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/02/17/early-american-socialism-and-the-poverty-of-colorblind-marxism/ https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/02/17/early-american-socialism-a...

You know both can be true, and majority of the racial disparities are deeply tied with race in America.

by theklr 5y ago

You know both can be true, and majority of the racial disparities are deeply tied with race in America.

Absolutely a valid point. To me though, highlighting race also reinforces stereotypes. We americans like to pretend that class differences don’t exist when clearly they do.

beckman466 5y ago
i agree with you that socio-economic class (propertied vs. non-propertied) is the most important 'outermost' layer of any critique of the existing capitalist power relations, yet help me understand your thinking here: > To me though, highlighting race also reinforces stereotypes. what's the alternative? so called 'color-blindness'? [1] what stereotypes are reenforced by mentioning race/ethnicity when discussing relations of power? right now it sounds like you're trying to refute structural racism. > We americans like to pretend that class differences don’t exist when clearly they do. i agree with you that class consciousness is low, yet both critiques/angles can exist/meet/intersect. that's what intersectionality is for. [1] an example of where this leads: "[...] the organization was informed by a form of “colorblind” Marxism that was incapable of dealing with the realities of racial divisions in the class structure of the United States. While more progressive on issues of race than other political parties in the United States, the WPUS/SLP ultimately failed to make a connection with the black working class, a grouping in society that had shown itself to have enormous revolutionary potential in the period of Reconstruction. While standing for class unity and recognizing the need for inter-racial organization, the WPUS/SLP ideology under closer scrutiny reveals an inability to recognize that black workers in the United States faced a form of oppression that was unique to their racial status, with white supremacy acting as a key linchpin in the class structure of US capitalism. This “color-blind” socialism was ultimately incapable of resonating with black workers. It also falsely expected the proletariat to organically unite under economic pressures as it grew as a class, responding to immiseration and crisis in an almost automatic way. This was a vision that was incapable of taking into account the role of white supremacy in dividing the US working class to develop a strategy that could effectively win the most oppressed sections of the proletariat to socialist politics." https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/02/17/early-american-socialism-and-the-poverty-of-colorblind-marxism/ https://cosmonaut.blog/2019/02/17/early-american-socialism-a...