As we close out the semester, I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to have engaged the material that we touched on. Each of the authors brought a new and different understanding of what “white identity” really means. Some of the material was centered around capitalism (Roediger) other pieces were around religion (Perkinson). Others had […]
Read more "The Magic Negro"Is not this the record of present America? Is not this its headlong progress? Are we not coming more and more, day by day, to making the statement “I am white,” the one fundamental tenet of our practical morality? Only when this basic, iron rule is involved is our defense of right nation-wide and prompt. […]
Read more "What Does It Mean to Be White?"There are tons of videos and articles out now about racist costumes. Between appropriation, outright blackface (or yellowface or redface), playing on stereotypes and assumptions, and/or just being clueless I think this time of year actually allows for some very nuanced conversations about racism and appropriation. I thought I would show some of my favorites […]
Read more "Halloween"I have been thinking about the concept of “non-opposition”. Almost all forms of Buddhism have some instruction about not living in opposition to the world. How does this really work when there are so many things that are just not okay. Oppression is real. The murder of black and brown people by police is real. […]
Read more "Non-opposition"It is very easy to put the entire conversation about race in air quotes. “Segregation,” “the Klan,” “Prison Industrial Complex,” and even now “Ferguson” are reference points for most people who discuss them and not real and tangible parts of their world. This is one of the most powerful manifestations of the Possessive Investment in Whiteness […]
Read more "This “S**t” is Real"The Fosters is an ABC Family drama featuring an interracial lesbian couple and their multi-ethnic mix of biological, adopted, and foster children. Here I will use one of the more obvious instances of racism in the series to examine the actions of three white people involved, and explore possible ways they could better disrupt white supremacy. […]
Read more "Disrupting White Supremacy in Interracial Couples"When I consider how I operate in the world there are two predominant styles that arise. First I consider myself to be a pragmatist. That is to say, that I am concerned not with some intellectual understanding of something, not some egghead view, but how do these things we in the academy think about play […]
Read more "And away we go…"
the neoabolitionist 