From the beginnings of this nation there was a gradual growth of an economic dependence upon a supply of free labor. That long need was supplied finally in the development of a system of enslavement, Continue reading “Peculiar Institutions…Yesterday/Today”
The De-Radicalization of Anti-Racism
The title and the probing ideas come from Amy Elizabeth Ansell’s New Right, New Racism: Race and Reaction in the United States and Britain. My explorations follow her lead only as it opens vistas onto what is happening in the United States, since that is where I live and observe. In a detailed and precise way, Ansell outlines the emergence of “new racism” with the advent of “new right” politics during our most recent decades. Continue reading “The De-Radicalization of Anti-Racism”
Controlling the Death of Others: A Memorial Day Reflection
The e-mail message conveyed a sense that Jonathan was fearful that his final paper of the semester would not be acceptable because it was not an academic study of the death penalty. Continue reading “Controlling the Death of Others: A Memorial Day Reflection”
Shoulders of the Past for the Future
She is helping to coordinate plans which a local college is projecting for a summer gathering of people who were involved in the Civil Rights Movement of this century. The intent evidently is to engage some of these “veterans” in dialogue with younger people for whom the Civil Rights Movement is history, sometimes seeming quite ancient and irrelevant. Continue reading “Shoulders of the Past for the Future”
Justice Harlan and Race
For years and in many different situations I have heard appeals to Justice Harlan’s one-person dissent in the Plessy vs. Ferguson decision of 1896, in which he articulated the idea that the Constitution, and therefore the law of the land is “color blind.” Continue reading “Justice Harlan and Race”