Beautifully written and analytically correct. To eliminate racism, one must change hearts and minds, not just conduct. As the Stoics taught us, violence cannot do that. If anything, it hardens inclinations into immovable concrete and elicits resentment. One must disabuse, and that requires understanding the root cause of another's belief. Antiracism as currently configured completely fails to acknowledge this truth and instead takes the easy, emotionally satisfying tack of confrontation and use of war-like techniques to best, intimidate and cow. It's a methodology doomed to failure, and unless and until the antiracism movement figures that out, things will only go backwards and cause MLK to roll over in his grave.
Before the conversation can begin, we need to agree on a definition of "equal." MLK defined equal in terms of political rights and opportunity. The antiracists and even more moderate politicians define equality in terms of percentages and outcomes. Count me among those who favor the former term.
How do the proponents of structural racism theory account for President Obama's election? Or the great successes and accomplishments of many Americans who are black?
If you look at American history, using the good stuff about America as a weapon against the bad stuff has produced much better results than acting like only the bad stuff matters.
Violence is not the answer. Non-violence is not the answer. Answers are answers. What are the policies and cultural changes that could effectively address mass inequity and dysfunction in black communities? I see precious few of those bubbling to the surface in the current fomentation.
John Woods clearly presents the divergence of ML Kings’ approach to racial justice and that of the anti-racists, typified by Kendi. But preaching non-violence doesn’t address the immediate problem of convincing millions of brainwashed whites and angry blacks that anti-racism provides no solutions for the black community. So, what approaches will move beyond anti-racism? 1. Find fault with the ideology? So far, that hasn’t worked because anti-racism deflects all criticism as racist. 2. Present a realistic picture of American History as progress towards a colorblind society; two steps forward and one step backwards. Shelby Steele’s film “What Killed Michael Brown” is a starter here. But where’s the emotional appeal that will gain followers? It’s a tough problem.
We as white Americans must come to terms with our past: Slavery, Jim Crow and now racism.
Guy Raz puts forth a comparison with Germany. “Willy Brandt went to the Warsaw Ghetto and as he approached the memorial, he fell to his knees in anguish. It was an act of deep humility and courage. Brandt’s gesture could not bring back 6 million murdered Jews or the millions of European civilians also murdered. But it was the beginning of Germany’s true reckoning with the past. It’s important to add that Willy Brandt fled Nazi Germany as a young man and survived the war in hiding as a dissident. He was a marked man by the Nazis. But Brandt understood that he was part of a society that committed mass murder on an unimaginable scale. And he had to act.”
“The average German knows and understands the details and legacy of the mass murder and persecution their forbears committed. German schoolchildren visit the remains of death camps. There are monuments to the murdered Jews of Europe across the country. There are national days of mourning.
Most schoolchildren in the United States still do not learn that “plantations” were concentration camps where terror, rape, assault and brutal family separation took place. They do not learn about the generations of families ripped apart at the snap of a finger. Or the immense wealth that was created and passed on (to this day) by people who benefited from the free labor of enslaved humans. And that for more than 100 years after the civil war, African Americans continued to be terrorized by the state apparatus.
I believe if more white Americans understood these and so many other horrors of the black experience in America—and truly committed ourselves to a reckoning—with both real and symbolic reparations—our country would become stronger, more just, healthier and prouder.”
Ok, well, on a personal note if nothing else John Wood's writing made me feel better! I have always felt the MLK's non-violent vision was an achievable goal that, slowly and painfully, was bringing our society to a better place with more equality, a better understanding of the evils of racism. and a goal of treating people as unique individuals rather than judging them by race, gender, religion, etc. Kendi's anti-racism approach seems to say that we are forever stuck in the ills of the past, and must always be defined by the race or ethnic group we are born into. I am a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter, I acknowledge all the inequality and inherent racism that has existed since our nation's founding and (despite obvious progress) still exists today, but I refuse to embrace such a negative and angry world view that pits one group against another. MLK had it right; progress is slow but the pendulum does swing in the right direction. We can and must reject both the evils of racism and the so-called anti-racist approach to solving our very real problems and inequalities .
Beautifully written and analytically correct. To eliminate racism, one must change hearts and minds, not just conduct. As the Stoics taught us, violence cannot do that. If anything, it hardens inclinations into immovable concrete and elicits resentment. One must disabuse, and that requires understanding the root cause of another's belief. Antiracism as currently configured completely fails to acknowledge this truth and instead takes the easy, emotionally satisfying tack of confrontation and use of war-like techniques to best, intimidate and cow. It's a methodology doomed to failure, and unless and until the antiracism movement figures that out, things will only go backwards and cause MLK to roll over in his grave.
Before the conversation can begin, we need to agree on a definition of "equal." MLK defined equal in terms of political rights and opportunity. The antiracists and even more moderate politicians define equality in terms of percentages and outcomes. Count me among those who favor the former term.
How do the proponents of structural racism theory account for President Obama's election? Or the great successes and accomplishments of many Americans who are black?
If you look at American history, using the good stuff about America as a weapon against the bad stuff has produced much better results than acting like only the bad stuff matters.
Violence is not the answer. Non-violence is not the answer. Answers are answers. What are the policies and cultural changes that could effectively address mass inequity and dysfunction in black communities? I see precious few of those bubbling to the surface in the current fomentation.
John Woods clearly presents the divergence of ML Kings’ approach to racial justice and that of the anti-racists, typified by Kendi. But preaching non-violence doesn’t address the immediate problem of convincing millions of brainwashed whites and angry blacks that anti-racism provides no solutions for the black community. So, what approaches will move beyond anti-racism? 1. Find fault with the ideology? So far, that hasn’t worked because anti-racism deflects all criticism as racist. 2. Present a realistic picture of American History as progress towards a colorblind society; two steps forward and one step backwards. Shelby Steele’s film “What Killed Michael Brown” is a starter here. But where’s the emotional appeal that will gain followers? It’s a tough problem.
We as white Americans must come to terms with our past: Slavery, Jim Crow and now racism.
Guy Raz puts forth a comparison with Germany. “Willy Brandt went to the Warsaw Ghetto and as he approached the memorial, he fell to his knees in anguish. It was an act of deep humility and courage. Brandt’s gesture could not bring back 6 million murdered Jews or the millions of European civilians also murdered. But it was the beginning of Germany’s true reckoning with the past. It’s important to add that Willy Brandt fled Nazi Germany as a young man and survived the war in hiding as a dissident. He was a marked man by the Nazis. But Brandt understood that he was part of a society that committed mass murder on an unimaginable scale. And he had to act.”
“The average German knows and understands the details and legacy of the mass murder and persecution their forbears committed. German schoolchildren visit the remains of death camps. There are monuments to the murdered Jews of Europe across the country. There are national days of mourning.
Most schoolchildren in the United States still do not learn that “plantations” were concentration camps where terror, rape, assault and brutal family separation took place. They do not learn about the generations of families ripped apart at the snap of a finger. Or the immense wealth that was created and passed on (to this day) by people who benefited from the free labor of enslaved humans. And that for more than 100 years after the civil war, African Americans continued to be terrorized by the state apparatus.
I believe if more white Americans understood these and so many other horrors of the black experience in America—and truly committed ourselves to a reckoning—with both real and symbolic reparations—our country would become stronger, more just, healthier and prouder.”
Ok, well, on a personal note if nothing else John Wood's writing made me feel better! I have always felt the MLK's non-violent vision was an achievable goal that, slowly and painfully, was bringing our society to a better place with more equality, a better understanding of the evils of racism. and a goal of treating people as unique individuals rather than judging them by race, gender, religion, etc. Kendi's anti-racism approach seems to say that we are forever stuck in the ills of the past, and must always be defined by the race or ethnic group we are born into. I am a strong supporter of Black Lives Matter, I acknowledge all the inequality and inherent racism that has existed since our nation's founding and (despite obvious progress) still exists today, but I refuse to embrace such a negative and angry world view that pits one group against another. MLK had it right; progress is slow but the pendulum does swing in the right direction. We can and must reject both the evils of racism and the so-called anti-racist approach to solving our very real problems and inequalities .