David Sirota: Race and the White Snob Industry

from OurFuture.org:



Race and the White Snob Industry
By David Sirota

April 15th, 2008 - 9:44pm ET


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Think tank navel-gazer Michael Lind has a very long-winded article in Salon today desperately trying to downplay the issue of race in the 2008 political campaign. Like most white pundits, he can't seem to accept that yes, race plays a factor in American politics. And so he attempts to debunk my straightforward Race Chasm analysis by manufacturing a concept he calls "Greater New England."

Like most self-respecting think-tankers, Lind haughtily self-references, citing a New Republic article quoting himself discussing this "Greater New England" concept. He says this region - not really geographically connected - is that which was "settled by New England Yankees in the 19th century along with culturally similar Germans and Scandinavians." Yes, in one sentence, Lind calls my Race Chasm analysis "nonsense" and then - I'm not kidding - insists the key factor in the campaign is "the number of Yankee pioneers in the 19th century." Yes - according to Lind, the black-white politics that exists in Race Chasm states has no impact on the race, but Scandinavian immigration patterns from 150 years ago do.

Lind goes on to chastise "grotesque and repellent caricatures." At the same time, he makes broad sweeping generalizations claiming that the political culture of, say, Eastern Washington State is basically the same as Vermont. To Lind - the guy who is outraged at "caricatures" and stereotypes, all whites are whites, and all Northern whites have the racial sensibilities of Martin Luther King, and that's the end of it.

Most annoying is Lind's claim that "the Sirota theory also suggests that all white Democrats are at least latent racists." It's just so damn annoying when professional scholars - ie. the people paid to do nothing other than read - refuse to actually, ya know, read what they then bloviate about. Because had Lind read the article, he would have seen this very prominent paragraph:



The point - as stated explicitly - is not that all whites are racists, nor that all whites who vote against Obama are racists, nor even that the majority of whites who vote against Obama are racists. The point is that in close elections, a small minority of racially motivated white voters can flip an election - especially in states where a racially motivated black vote is too small to counter that force, and in an election where the white candidate has so clearly tried to inject race into the campaign. To deny that is to do what Lind and so many other white pundits have done: deny that race, racial politics and racism exists in America. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/race-and-white-snob-industry

... It's a cornerstone of Americanism.

anyone who pretends that racism doesn't exist in this nation is a fool.

Just ask ANY recent generation person who is Jewish, Italian, Russian, Bosnian, Polish, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Cajun, French Canadian, Greek, a Spaniard, Portuguese, Chaldean, White South African, a Christian Arab, Albanian, Bulgarian, and a lot more I'm sure i forgot.


Fact is there is a drastic oversimplification whenever anyone lumps the Ethnic Whites in with the WASPs.

Don't misuse the language.

Now, if you want to say that there are white ethnic groups that have borne the brunt of bigotry from other whites, that is valid.

None of the groups you mentioned experienced racism.

And by your logic Hispanics are also White.



The fact is there is no definition of Race like you see it. No definition of race passes the scientific method.

they can be black, they can be Indian, they can be mixtures of all those things. In their case, race can be a factor, as it can with Asians, but most of your examples are of racially white ethnic groups.

The fact that no scientific definition of race exists doesn't mean that the social construct of race doesn't exist. It does, and it is a powerful form of discrimination. White ethnic groups experience non-racial discrimination, not racism.

because I only knew white people and race never came up!!! Until I met my current husband and saw first hand that racism DOES exist in good ole USofA, I thought the 60's did away with racism...really! then I saw the underbelly..how when we went to a store together he had the cash, but I was asked if I could be helped..and he never was. We went to a bar and some guy brought me over some hors d'oeuvres (sp???) and I thought 'how nice' and my then boyfriend said 'do not eat that'..it was NOT because he was being kind..he was a red neck and no telling what he did with that food! DAMN! I learned real quick!!

because both of them are on the same, correct side of the important domestic issues: neo-liberal economic policies are destroying America's working and middle classes; the GOP employs useless "wedge" issues to divide the electorate; the Democratic party has been weakened by the corporate DLCers, etc.