A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Racism
|
Conscious and unconscious valuations of people as inherently inferior based on their "race," or color of their skin. Though overt expressions of racism such as hate crimes, the use of racial epithets, and other forms of outright attack against racial minorities certainly still exist, much of present day racism takes a more subtle form and occurs bellow the surface-level of conscious awareness by members of the dominant culture. This might take the shape of statements or actions which serve to invalidate the experience of, convey attitudes of discomfort with, or demean the heritage of racial minorities.
Additionally, it is important to recognize the ways in which racism operates on structural level. People of color are disproportionally impoverished, unemployed, policed, and incarcerated within our society. This kind of chronic inequity is normalized through centuries of cumulative practices of racialized exploitation that have served to build and maintain economic and political power for white people (See also, "white supremacy"). Fighting back against racism involves recognizing both how it operates systemically as well as recognizing the subtle ways it operates within our own subconscious so that we can work against it on every level. |
Race, Racism, and the Nation State. At the 2010 Jesus Radicals conference in Portland, Nekeisha Alayna Alexis spoke about racism and the nation-state.
|
Communist Research Cluster. Black Revolutionaries in the United States: Communist Interventions, Vol II.
No person in the United States can deny that Black liberation remains a pressing issue today. The unrest in Baltimore, Ferguson, etc. underscores the persistent social ills in the USA that Blacks have been unable to escape. The task of attempting to address these grievances within a revolutionary tradition is also—however less well-known—not a new phenomenon. Radical groupings within the USA have grappled with how to emancipate American Blacks from their oppression even prior to the Russian Revolution, It is this history which the Communist Research Cluster of Oakland, CA presents in this volume, through primary sources.
Black revolutionary voices from Du Bois through Angela Davis are presented in this important volume which according to the editors aims at addressing "what Harry Chang described as the 'real task' facing us: 'how to respond to the call of Black Liberation, not how to accommodate it somehow into some dingy cellar of specialization.'"
Gossett, Thomas F. Race: The History of an Idea in America. Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.
The new edition of Gossett's classic study on colonial race theory from its European beginnings to eighteenth and nineteenth century race pseudoscience to the racialist dimension of American thought and literature. (Modified from back cover)
King, Thomas. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Anchor Canada, 2012, Toronto, Canada. Print.
Thomas King writes in a way that is clear, compassionate, humorous and challenging, bringing to life the stories of European contact with the many Indigenous nations that were already here, and requiring us to question the version of history that many of us have been fed. He tells the histories of treaties made and broken, brings to the fore the inaccuracies and deceptions of the version of settlement, wars and histories that shaped the U.S. and Canada, so that we have a chance to unlearn racism toward Indigenous peoples of this land. He also examines more recent U.S. government policies and their impact on Indigenous nations. Most importantly, King describes the acts of resistance and gives voice to how the diverse Indigenous nations would shape their relationship with government, society and others who live on this land. This is a perspective we rarely hear and that we need to pay heed to.
No person in the United States can deny that Black liberation remains a pressing issue today. The unrest in Baltimore, Ferguson, etc. underscores the persistent social ills in the USA that Blacks have been unable to escape. The task of attempting to address these grievances within a revolutionary tradition is also—however less well-known—not a new phenomenon. Radical groupings within the USA have grappled with how to emancipate American Blacks from their oppression even prior to the Russian Revolution, It is this history which the Communist Research Cluster of Oakland, CA presents in this volume, through primary sources.
Black revolutionary voices from Du Bois through Angela Davis are presented in this important volume which according to the editors aims at addressing "what Harry Chang described as the 'real task' facing us: 'how to respond to the call of Black Liberation, not how to accommodate it somehow into some dingy cellar of specialization.'"
Gossett, Thomas F. Race: The History of an Idea in America. Oxford University Press, 1997. Print.
The new edition of Gossett's classic study on colonial race theory from its European beginnings to eighteenth and nineteenth century race pseudoscience to the racialist dimension of American thought and literature. (Modified from back cover)
King, Thomas. The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America. Anchor Canada, 2012, Toronto, Canada. Print.
Thomas King writes in a way that is clear, compassionate, humorous and challenging, bringing to life the stories of European contact with the many Indigenous nations that were already here, and requiring us to question the version of history that many of us have been fed. He tells the histories of treaties made and broken, brings to the fore the inaccuracies and deceptions of the version of settlement, wars and histories that shaped the U.S. and Canada, so that we have a chance to unlearn racism toward Indigenous peoples of this land. He also examines more recent U.S. government policies and their impact on Indigenous nations. Most importantly, King describes the acts of resistance and gives voice to how the diverse Indigenous nations would shape their relationship with government, society and others who live on this land. This is a perspective we rarely hear and that we need to pay heed to.