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Today's
Stories
December 6 / 7, 2003
Saul Landau
"Reality
Media": Michael Jackson, Bush and Iraq
December 5, 2003
Jeffrey St. Clair
A
Natural Eye: the Photography of Brett Weston
Jeremy Scahill
Bremer
of the Tigris
Jeremy Brecher
Amistad
Revisited at Guantanamo?
Norman Solomon
Dean
and the Corp Media Machine
Norman Madarasz
France
Starts Facing Up to Anti-Muslim Discrimination
Pablo Mukherjee
Afghanistan:
the Road Back
December 4, 2003
M. Junaid Alam
Image
and Reality: an Interview with Norman Finkelstein
Adam Engel
Republican
Chris Floyd
Naked Gun: Sex, Blood and the FBI
Adam Federman
The US Footprint in Central Asia
Gary Leupp
The
Fall of Shevardnadze
Guthrie / Albert
RIP Clark Kerr
December 3, 2003
Stan Goff
Feeling
More Secure Yet?: Bush, Security, Energy & Money
Joanne Mariner
Profit Margins and Mortality Rates
George Bisharat
Who Caused the Palestinian Diaspora?
Mickey Z.
Tear Down That Wal-Mart
John Stanton
Bush Post-2004: a Nightmare Scenario
Harry Browne
Shannon
Warport: "No More Business as Usual"
December 2, 2003
Matt Vidal
Denial
and Deception: Before and Beyond Iraqi Freedom
Benjamin Dangl
An Interview with Evo Morales on the Colonization of the Americas
Sam Bahour
Can It Ever Really End?
Norman Solomon
That
Pew Poll on "Trade" Doesn't Pass the Sniff Test
Josh Frank
Trade
War Fears
Andrew Cockburn
Tired,
Terrified, Trigger-Happy
December 1, 2003
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
Unholy
Alliances: Zionism, US Imperialism and Islamic Fundamentalism
Dave Lindorff
Bush's
Baghdad Pitstop: Memories of LBJ in Vietnam
Harry Browne
Democracy Delayed in Northern Ireland
Wayne Madsen
Wagging the Media
Herman Benson
The New Unity Partnership for Labor: Bureaucratizing to Organize?
Gilad Atzmon
About
"World Peace"
Bill Christison
US
Foreign Policy and Intelligence: Monstrous Messes
November 29 / 30, 2003
Peter Linebaugh
On
the Anniversary of the Death of Wolfe Tone
Gary Leupp
Politicizing War on Fox News: a Tale of Two Memos
Saul Landau
Lying and Cheating:
Bush's New Political Math
Michael Adler
Inside a Miami Jail: One Activist's Narrative
Anthony Arnove
"They Put the Lie to Their Own Propaganda": an Interview
with John Pilger
Greg Weiher
Why Bush Needs Osama and Saddam
Stephen Banko, III
A Soldier's Dream
Forrest Hylton
Empire and Revolution in Bolivia
Toni Solo
The "Free Trade" History Eraser
Ben Terrall
Don't Think Twice: Bush Does Bali
Standard Schaefer
Unions
are the Answer to Supermarkets Woes
Richard Trainor
The Political Economy of Earthquakes: a Journey Across the Bay
Bridge
Mark Gaffney
US Congress Does Israel's Bidding, Again
Adam Engel
The System Really Works
Dave Lindorff
They, the Jury: How the System Rigs the Jury Pool
Susan Davis
Framing the Friedmans
Neve Gordon
Arundhati Roy's Complaint for Peace
Mitchel Cohen
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
Ben Tripp
Capture Me, Daddy
Poets' Basement
Kearney, Albert, Guthrie and Smith
November 28, 2003
William S. Lind
Worse Than Crimes
David Vest
Turkey
Potemkin
Robert Jensen / Sam Husseini
New Bush Tape Raises Fears of Attacks
Wayne Madsen
Wag
the Turkey
Harold Gould
Suicide as WMD? Emile Durkheim Revisited
Gabriel Kolko
Vietnam
and Iraq: Has the US Learned Anything?
South Asia Tribune
The Story
of the Most Important Pakistan Army General in His Own Words
Website of the Day
Bush Draft
November 27, 2003
Mitchel Cohen
Why
I Hate Thanksgiving
Jack Wilson
An
Account of One Soldier's War
Stefan Wray
In the Shadows of the School of the Americas
Al Krebs
Food as Corporate WMD
Jim Scharplaz
Going Up Against Big Food: Weeding Out the Small Farmer
Neve Gordon
Gays
Under Occupation: Help Save the Life of Fuad Moussa
November 26, 2003
Paul de Rooij
Amnesty
International: the Case of a Rape Foretold
Bruce Jackson
Media
and War: Bringing It All Back Home
Stew Albert
Perle's
Confession: That's Entertainment
Alexander Cockburn
Miami and London: Cops in Two Cities
David Orr
Miami Heat
Tom Crumpacker
Anarchists
on the Beach
Mokhiber / Weissman
Militarization in Miami
Derek Seidman
Naming the System: an Interview with Michael Yates
Kathy Kelly
Hogtied
and Abused at Ft. Benning
Website of the Day
Iraq Procurement
November 25, 2003
Linda S. Heard
We,
the Besieged: Western Powers Redefine Democracy
Diane Christian
Hocus
Pocus in the White House: Of Warriors and Liberators
Mark Engler
Miami's
Trade Troubles
David Lindorff
Ashcroft's
Cointelpro
Website of the Day
Young McCarthyites of Texas
November 24, 2003
Jeremy Scahill
The
Miami Model
Elaine Cassel
Gulag
Americana: You Can't Come Home Again
Ron Jacobs
Iraq
Now: Oh Good, Then the War's Over?
Alexander Cockburn
Rupert Murdoch: Global Tyrant
November 14 / 23, 2003
Alexander Cockburn
Clintontime:
Was It Really a Golden Age?
Saul Landau
Words
of War
Noam Chomsky
Invasion
as Marketing Problem: Iraq War and Contempt for Democracy
Stan Goff
An Open Letter to GIs in Iraq: Hold on to Your Humanity
Jeffrey St. Clair
Bush Puts Out a Contract on the Spotted Owl
John Holt
Blue Light: Battle for the Sweetgrass Hills
Adam Engel
A DC Lefty in King George's Court: an Interview with Sam Smith
Joanne Mariner
In a Dark Hole: Moussaoui and the Hidden Detainees
Uri Avnery
The General as Pseudo-Dove: Ya'alon's 70 Virgins
M. Shahid Alam
Voiding the Palestinians: an Allegory
Juliana Fredman
Visions of Concrete
Norman Solomon
Media Clash in Brazil
Brian Cloughley
Is Anyone in the Bush Administration Telling the Truth?
William S. Lind
Post-Machine Gun Tactics
Patrick W. Gavin
Imagine
Dave Lindorff
Bush's
Brand of Leadership: Putting Himself First
Tom Crumpacker
Pandering to Anti-Castro Hardliners
Erik Fleming
Howard Dean's Folly
Rick Giombetti
Challenging the Witch Doctors of the New Imperialism: a Review
of Bush in Babylon
Jorge Mariscal
Las Adelitas, 2003: Mexican-American Women in Iraq
Chris Floyd
Logical Conclusions
Mickey Z.
Does William Safire Need Mental Help?
David Vest
Owed to the Confederate Dead
Ron Jacobs
Joe: the Sixties Most Unforgiving Film
Dave Zirin
Foreman and Carlos: a Tale of Two Survivors
Poets' Basement
Guthrie, Albert, Greeder, Ghalib and Alam
Congratulations
to CounterPuncher David Vest: Winner of 2 Muddy Awards for Best
Blues Pianist in the Pacific Northwest!
November 13, 2003
Jack McCarthy
Veterans
for Peace Booted from Vet Day Parade
Adam Keller
Report
on the Ben Artzi Verdict
Richard Forno
"Threat Matrix:" Homeland Security Goes Prime-Time
Vijay Prashad
Confronting
the Evangelical Imperialists
November 12, 2003
Elaine Cassel
The
Supremes and Guantanamo: a Glimmer of Hope?
Col. Dan Smith
Unsolicited
Advice: a Reply to Rumsfeld's Memo
Jonathan Cook
Facility
1391: Israel's Guantanamo
Robert Fisk
Osama Phones Home
Michael Schwartz
The Wal-Mart Distraction and the California Grocery Workers Strike
John Chuckman
Forty
Years of Lies
Doug Giebel
Jessica Lynch and Saving American Decency
Uri Avnery
Wanted: a Sharon of the Left
Website of the Day
Musicians Against Sweatshops
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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for More Stories.
|
December
6 / 7, 2003
Black and White is
Read All Over
A Conversation with Tim Wise
By ADAM ENGEL
ADAM ENGEL: First off, the oldest "medium,
language. When I was in college a feminist friend told me that,
despite my own rather cavalier visions of myself, it was impossible
for me or anyone else, male or female, not to be sexist, or at
least believe - way deep down - the myths about men and women
held by society, because sexism is embedded in the English language.
Female equals weak, male equals strong; female equals flighty
and chaotic, male equals rigorous, determined, orderly etc. Do
you think this is true and that it applies to racism as well?
TIM WISE: I'm not sure that I would necessarily
subscribe to the linguistic primacy of racist conditioning, though
I agree that language can be one of many tools to maintain and
legitimize oppressive systems. I think the bigger influences
are media--and not just the words used by media but the images
more centrally--as well as the version of history we tell (and
don't tell) ourselves; and the structural reality of inequality
itself.
Let me take these one at a time briefly
to explain what I mean.
As for media, this is pretty straightforward.
Mass media over-represents persons of color in negative ways,
especially as criminals, relative to the share of crime actually
done by such persons. Numerous studies have confirmed this, as
well as indicating that in local news, for example, although
all violent crime is over-hyped, even when crime rates are falling,
that crimes by blacks against whites get the most coverage. The
Central Park Jogger is one example, but on a local level there
are hundreds of others that never make national news. This reinforces
the notion of blacks, and also Latinos, as deviant and dangerous.
In fact, the crime issue has been so
effectively racialized by media, with the help of politicians,
that in studies, a large number of whites who are shown clips
of news stories about criminals "remember" the perps
as black an hour after watching the clip, even when they were
white or where their race was unspecified.
Likewise, 95% of whites when asked what
they think of when they hear the term drug user, say they think
of a black person: stunning, when you consider that 72% of drug
users are white, only 13% are black, and blacks are slightly
less likely in most years to use drugs than whites.
As for the history we teach, this is
even more obvious I suspect. Despite the influence of multiculturalism
in education--which is rarely as radical as its critics would
have us believe--we still stick to an historical narrative that
is pretty uncritical. Not only are the heroes white, male and
owning class, typically, but the way we try and throw in a few
people of color, women or working people is so obviously contrived--sort
of like parsley on the plate, ya' know, not the real meal, just
added for show--that young people see right through it.
In fact this kind of multiculturalism,
as opposed to a radical form that was truly antiracist, anti-patriarchal
and anti-classist reinforces the dominant narrative precisely
because it is so weak, so meaningless, and seen as purely additive.
After all, learning about a handful of black inventors (as opposed
to learning that this nation would literally not exist but for
black labor, or the shared wisdom of indigenous people, which
we thanked them for by killing 95% of them) doesn't have much
impact if the kid reading that stuff can think: "yeah, that's
great, but what about those blacks over in the ghetto,"
and thereby maintain a negative view of blacks as a whole. We
don't teach him about how the ghetto came to be the ghetto--which
of course was due to deliberate racist policies--and thereby
we allow him to retain his uncritical view of the U.S. as this
largely just place, where we once had problems, but now they're
all solved. So naturally, when he hears people of color complain
about this paradise he calls home, he thinks that the only racism
is coming from ungrateful black and brown folks, and this feeds
his resentment.
As for structural inequality--this is
the biggest "teacher" of all when it comes to instilling
racism in people's minds. After all, if you grow up in a nation
that insists, as the central component of its ideology, that
"anyone can make it if they just work hard enough,"
and yet in this nation there exists massive disparities in terms
of education, income, wealth and assets, imprisonment rates,
unemployment, and poverty, then it becomes quite logical for
one who has been propagandized to accept the notion of meritocracy
to believe the folks on the bottom must indeed be inferior. It
comes together like 2+2, I mean, it just makes sense once you
accept the dominant narrative, as most do, because they are fed
it day in and day out from the time they're kids.
ENGEL: It's a relatively well-known argument,
pointed out by Alice Walker and Malcolm X, among others, that
"black" refers to evil, mysterious, chaotic, and white
is good, clean, pure etc. (note: I'm speaking only of English;
I don't know other languages well enough to talk about them,
though the romance languages are meticulous about the male and
female categories of nouns.). My own answer to this, in terms
of racism, is that black people aren't really "black"
any more than white people are "white." Placing the
myriad varieties of human skin color into binary (and Manichean)
categories of Black and White is a projection of the racist consciousness.
That said, Darth Vader rarely wears plaid, and the man who provides
his off-screen voice is indeed black.
WISE: Right. Black had these connotations
long before the term was used to denote "race" in the
U.S., for example, just as white never was used to describe Europeans
until the late 1600s. Now one might argue that the words were
chosen because it fit with that older imagery, and perhaps that's
true, but either way, I think the words themselves would have
little weight absent the imagery, the history and the inequality
that reinforces the negative connotation behind the words.
TELEVISION
ENGEL: Though I haven't watched much
television since 1983, when I left for college at eighteen, I
was practically reared by the Tube from 1970 to 1980. Lot of
"black" shows (the Jeffersons, Good Times, That's My
Mama, Bill Cosby's Fat Albert Cartoon, Sanford and Son, etc.)
and almost every "white" show had one or more characters
who not only "fit in" but was conscious of his/her
race and the relation race played in his/her environment. Many
of these shows even challenged racism and racist policies. Looking
back, the message seemed to be "Look, black people can be
as ridiculous and vapid as white people; hence, THEY'RE HARMLESS.
'We' don't have to fear their anger. We can be friends. They
even have families and jobs and problems just like 'us.'"
Of course it was a self-serving 'white' vision of black people
(and a chance for advertisers to tap the black consumer), but
it was something, to a child at any rate. I never watched "The
Cosby Show" but it was one of the most successful sit-coms
of the 80s.
Things are a bit different now, and have
been, I assume, for a while. There were about as many black people
in "Seinfeld's" Manhattan as in Woody Allen's. Similarly,
there are no black characters in popular shows such as "Friends"
- again, an all-white Manhattan. But something more sinister
seems to be going on. Black people just "appear" out
of context, and hang out with the regular cast, then leave. Or
if they are 'regulars,' the issue of race is seldom, if ever
mentioned. It's as if they've been 'cured' of their blackness.
They're regular folks now, goofy and lovable as 'us.' I chanced
upon one of these shows, "Friends," I think it was,
in which one of the main characters has a brief affair with a
black woman. Watching it, I felt strange. Like, "what's
SHE doing there?" It was more than just the "novelty"
of seeing a black character on a white show. It was the utter
lack of context and consciousness that suddenly, out of nowhere,
someone is associating with a black person without touching at
all on the issues of our, in my view, extremely segregated society.
Then I realized why I feet uncomfortable
whenever I see a black person make a cameo appearance on "white"
television, (whether it's MTV or the latest hit sit-com). Television
has solved the black-white issue by either pretending black people
do not exist by not showing them, or pretending that black people
aren't "black," that is, skin color is no more relevant
than hair color. Black people live the same privileged, consumerist,
"middle class" existence as whites, and to say otherwise
is (ah hah!) racist. We're all equal before the camera. All that
bad blood under the bridge is 'the past.' We've evolved to the
point at which race is no longer an issue. Segregation, black
profiling, ghettoes, mass incarceration - whoosh! - down the
memory hole. I wonder what difference the effect on a child of
the 70s watching shows in which black people are struggling openly
for respect and recognition, (whatever the Network's ulterior
motives for "blacksploitation"), and one today watching
an all white perfect society in which black people make cameo
appearances but not really: it shouldn't matter WHAT color they
are. By pointing out the fact that they are "black"
I must be a racist etc..
WISE: This is really very important,
as silly and sometimes unimportant as various elements of popular
culture may be. Fact is, the de-racing (or rather erasing) of
people of color within dominant media sitcoms, for example, never
fully serves the purpose intended by the nice liberals who typically
conceive of it as the ultimate anti-racist act.
Consider one of the shows you mentioned,
The Cosby Show. Now, although that show did not seek to un-blacken
the Huxtable family--indeed they were quite in touch with their
blackness on many levels I think, and certainly more so than
the drop-in characters you reference today--the fact remains
that that show was conceived as a social statement that might
bridge racial barriers, and not only as a vehicle for entertainment.
Actually, as an aside, Cosby himself first conceived of the family
as working class, not a doctor and lawyer, but the networks weren't
interested and figured whites wouldn't accept it as readily,
which is probably true. So when the show got made, it ended up
this professional, successful couple and their kids, and it was
seen as a way to move past the stereotypical and sometimes demeaning
images of blacks in the recent past on TV (George Jefferson,
Jimmy Walker, etc., although you're right, even those shows tended
to deal better with real issues).
Well on one level it worked. Whites indeed
did identify with the show. But as researchers learned, and as
was discussed in the excellent book Enlightened Racism, those
same whites often took their positive view of the Huxtables and
used that as a reason to continue disliking and thinking badly
of other blacks who weren't as "successful" as this
fictional TV family. In other words, they would say, "Gosh,
I love Cliff and Claire; I wish all blacks were like that,"
or, "Gee, if Cliff and Claire can make it, anyone can make
it." In other words, the show, while effectively de-racializing
the Huxtables in the eyes of whites to some extent, it helped
re-racialize white perceptions of American society, the meritocracy,
and all the baggage that comes with that.
ENGEL: On the other hand, there's the
NEWS and "documentary" style programs like Cops. The
black people we see on the News (unless they're entertainers,
sports figures, celebrities etc.) are somewhat different. They're
all drug dealers, rapists, murderers, or some kind of dangerous,
irredeemable criminals and must be locked away forever, or better
yet, executed for the good of the State. But again, they just
"happen" to be black. "Nothing personal."
WISE: Well yes, these shows are just
horrible. The producer and creator of COPS actually admits to
the possible racist effect of his show, during an interview with
Michael Moore in Bowling for Columbine, but then basically says,
"oh well, it's good TV," and leaves it at that. So
that let's you know where things stand
TOKENISM
ENGEL: Around 1987 I attended a lecture
by Angela Davis, who said something to the effect that the powers
that be will "always manage to find a black, Latino, gay
woman to out-Reagan Reagan." So it has come to pass. How
can we be racists if two of the most powerful people in the Nation,
Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell, are black? Those "bad
black people" who are always being arrested for something
on the News made the choice to be poor and "uneducated"
and jobless. How dare anyone use the excuse of racism, police
brutality, profiling.? How dare anyone ask questions of class,
unequal distribution of wealth, absence of hope or opportunity,
history, economics? Look at Michael Jordan, Denzel Washington,
Oprah, Michael Jackson - rather, don't look at Michael Jackson.
Any black child born in the USA who sets his mind to success,
and works and studies hard, and gets an "education"
can "make it." In fact, because of affirmative action
and other instances of "reverse racism" and preferential
treatment, black people have it a whole lot easier, etc. Or so
the corporate media would lead us to believe.
WISE: Right. I always point out in my
lectures that when you can NAME all the black folks who are able
to buy and sell whites because of their power or money, as you
did above, then you know the rule of black disempowerment and
white supremacy is still in full effect. Fact is, blacks with
college degrees are still more likely to be unemployed than non-Hispanic
whites who dropped out of high school. So much for reverse discrimination.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
VERSUS SYNTHETIC MEDIA "REALITY"
ENGEL All this corporate media flap-doodle
is easy for me to cut away. All I have to do is take a walk around
Manhattan and clear my head of their bizarre fantasies. But what
if I didn't live in a city where "white people" were
a minority majority (and I wonder if they're even that) and my
only perception of blacks, Asians, Arabs, Southeast Asians, Latinos
and every other racial/ethnic group living - precariously - in
NYC and around the world came from CNN/Fox/Time Magazine/The
New York Times? What if I couldn't walk outside my door and have
the lies of corporate media contradicted by reality?
WISE: It would definitely be a problem.
Look, I always try to make it clear that I don't think most white
folks are intentional racists, or actively engage in racism at
all on a conscious level. But when about 85% of whites live in
neighborhoods with almost NO people of color, and when we remain
so isolated in the workplace, with only smatterings of diversity
for most whites to "deal with," and when the schools
are re-segregating to such a degree, it's no wonder that whites
can come to hold such absurd and pernicious views about the folks
they never see. It's also no shock that given that isolation,
whites would also tend to minimize or outright deny the reality
of racism in the live of people of color. After all, out of sight
out of mind.
ENGEL: And one of the realities before
my eyes is that NYC must be one of the most racist cities in
the Nation. Not racist on the peoples' level - Pakistanis live
beside Indians, and Chinese, Koreans, and Orthodox Jews in Queens
and Brooklyn with minimal friction - but racist on the official
level. State-sanctioned racism is the policy of the City government,
which boasts the largest, most heavily armed police force on
the planet. Forty-one shots fired at Amadou Diallo? Lots more
where that came from. Yet while beatings and killings of people
of color were the greatest legacy of National Hero Rudy Guiliani,
if one were to read/watch only mainstream media, the killing
of Amadou Diallo was a freak accident - could have happened to
anyone. One of those unfortunate occurrences that are to be expected
if 40,000 armed cops are to make NYC safe for the suburbanites
who come in daily to work, and shop on the week-ends.
WISE: Yes, but of course it couldn't
have happened to just anyone, because oddly enough "it"
never does seem to happen to whites, now does it? Or at least
very very rarely do these kinds of brutalities and "accidental
shootings" involve white victims. Read the Stolen Lives
Project's report on folks killed by cops, and although you will
see some whites in there, the disproportionality of black and
Latino and Asian victims is stunning
ENGEL: Not to mention tourists. "Quality
of life" (for visitors) has never been better. Ask USA Today
or Newsweek. Although it must be admitted that since 9/11, "quality
of life" has improved markedly for black people in NYC.
It's the Muslims they're after now - or Hindus or Sikhs. Hard
to tell the difference with all these brown-skinned "rag
heads" roaming about. And we can't blame the NYPD alone
for the inevitable "mistakes" of identity. This Summer,
soldiers, armed with M16s, patrolled Port Authority, Times Square,
Penn Station, and other populated areas (see my article "U.S.
Outta Times Square"). But this blatant disregard for the
Posse Commitatus Act is yet to be reported, as far as I know,
by the corporate media, which settled 500 years of racial strife
in less than two years with the simple slogan, "United We
Stand."
WISE: Yes, united in denial of our disunity
DOES "AMERICA
" REALLY EXIST?
ENGEL: The truth is, I'm extremely out
of touch with "Mainstream America," which is why I
chose to do this series of interview/debates of Media Critics
on Media. I honestly don't understand what or how people outside
NYC, Boston and LA think outside the dozens of "alternative"
and "indy" newsletters I subscribe to and websites
I visit daily.
WISE: Well then yes, you are pretty out
of touch, because although there are pockets of radical ferment
out there in the hinterland, we shouldn't delude ourselves into
thinking that most folks think in alternative ways: again, not
because they are incapable of it (they're very capable) but because
they are busy, busy people without the knowledge of where to
get the info they need, or the time to process it.
The good news is that once exposed to
alternative ways of thinking, many, many people are able to wake
up. I mean, right after 9/11, like a week later, I was speaking
in Greensboro NC, which despite 1979, is not really a hotbed
of leftist activity ok? And to a crowd of about 600 people I
ditched my planned talk, which was a standard talk about domestic
racism, and went into an hour long rant about the racism and
imperialism of the war that was sure to be launched on Afghanistan.
I didn't expect to get through the speech, but no one left. No
one. No one booed. No one. And this was at a college where students
were attending the speech because their professor told them to,
not because they were all radicals who wanted to come hear Tim
Wise. After, I got a standing ovation from 90 percent of the
audience. It was amazing. What I was hearing all through those
first few months was people saying that they were desperate for
a new way of thinking about 9/11 and its aftermath, and had been
despairing of where to get that information. That may seem bizarre
to those of us in the left media loop who, if anything, have
too much stuff to sort through, but I'm telling ya, for most
folks that is where they are still.
ENGEL: Interestingly enough, my greatest
source of information about "the American people" is
Mainstream media. I don't like what I see. I frequently lampoon
what I see in my columns. But what makes my vision of "the
American people," courtesy Westinghouse, Time-Warner AOL
etc. any more accurate than the opinions of those with access
only to Mainstream media on blacks, Jews, Muslims, Asians etc.?
Yet another reason to question my own allegedly "progressive"
mindset with these interviews.
WISE: Right, it can be discouraging,
but of course it is very functional to elites for average everyday
folks to be perceived as, and thought of as apathetic, uninformed
boobs who would rather watch The Bachelor, or Jerry Springer
than engage in the real world. After all, if people think they
can't do anything about the problems in the world (other than
to consume their way to happiness), or if we are led to believe
that our neighbors are members of an al-Qaeda sleeper cell, or
drug users, or child molesters, or just silly and pathetic TV
junkies, then we will be more likely to cede power to those already
in power, and grant them the implicit authority to do what they
want. After all, what good is movement building or challenging
authority when no one cares (supposedly)?
It's not a conspiracy mind you; it's
just the system working as it must...by dumbing down the masses,
those in positions of authority can maintain and extend their
authority. And to the extent it works, there is no chance that
networks, advertisers, or anyone else in power would ever think
to challenge this arrangement: again, not conspiracy, but merely
a functional system. Producing pap makes money, maintains a buying
mood, and doesn't upset the apple cart, so what's not to like,
right?
MEDIA VERSUS PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE
For the sake of argument, I'm going to
throw out opinions from what I believe to be the perspective
of Fox/CNN/NYT/Time etc. and contrast them with (what I believe
to be) my own opinions.
For instance:
"MEDIA: Sure there may be flare-ups
between ethnic groups who haven't learned to embrace the American
Way of Life (such as the Crown Heights riots between West Indian
black immigrants and Hassidic Jews). But America itself has cured
itself of racism. Look at icons of the American Dream such as
Oprah, Colin Powell, Eddie Murphy. Pretty silly to condemn a
country that affords black people such remarkable opportunities
of Institutionalized Racism.
"EXPERIENCE: Black people don't
exist anymore except to serve white people. It's as if Ellison's
"Invisible Man" had never been written. I grew up in
all white upper-middle class suburban Long Island. Only black
people there were maids and cleaning ladies. Only at college,
and afterward, as an instructor of Freshman comp. and Creative
Writing at NYU and Touro college did I interact with black people
as teachers, colleagues and students. Outside of the University,
where blacks are present but underrepresented, I literally have
no interaction with black people except for those in menial jobs
meant to serve white people: cab drivers, Fast food counter workers,
nurses aides -though seldom registered nurses, security guards
and - no joke - elevator operators in Museums. As a copywriter/editor
for corporate advertising firms and <dot.com> era consulting
firms, I had less than a dozen black colleagues out of hundreds.
The only black person with any true authority that I have ever
met is Dean Barbara Campbell of NYU's Tisch school of the Arts,
and Spike Lee, who teaches there occasionally. Must be a lonely
job because, except for the half dozen black students in every
class, the only other black people in the building are security
guards and cleaning staff."
WISE: Yes. I mean, let's not kid ourselves.
To deny that there have been significant changes in terms of
racism in the past three decades would be absurd, and it would
also disrespect the sacrifice of those who fought and died to
make those changes happen. Yet it would also disrespect their
memories to act as if all they fought for was the right to become
Secretary of State for a war criminal, or to become a high-ranking
war criminal oneself, or to get a multimillion dollar endorsement
deal, or promote lifestyle advice on one's TV show. I'm pretty
certain that's not what the movement was about or is about.
It's like Malcolm X said, "don't
stick a knife in me ten inches, pull it out six, and tell me
you've made progress." Progress if always relative: to the
oppressed, it can only be viewed as an all or nothing deal--if
oppression continues, even in a modified form, then the system
must still be attacked until that injustice is eradicated. Only
the dominant group and those they let into their inner circle
have the luxury of remaining sanguine about progress when folks
are still literally dying because of their race, as pointed out
by numerous studies on health care, for example, which show that
people of color receive inferior care, even after controlling
for income, insurance, education, occupation, place of residence,
symptoms presented, and everything else. Those statistics represent
DEAD PEOPLE for God's sake, often children, and yet we still
talk about progress like we were painting a living room or something,
instead of dealing with life or death issues.
"MEDIA: We support Israel as the
only democracy in the middle east. Palestinians and other Arabs
must recognize Israel's security needs if there is to be peace.
"EXPERIENCE: I've been hearing that
crap since Hebrew School (that I declared myself an atheist at
age ten was far less important than that I developed a healthy
hatred of all things Muslim, particularly Arab). True, I bought
it until the first Intifada in 1987, when I noticed that the
majority of Palestinians lived in ramshackle refugee camps and
were using sticks, rocks and rifles to "battle" tanks,
fighter planes, helicopters and missiles. Only in the past three
years, as suicide bombers, have they become a deadly threat.
But if a good number of people volunteer to blow themselves up
in order to make your life uncomfortable, there must be something
a bit more complex going on than the "bloodthirsty, cowardly
(!!!?) terrorist" theory propounded by mainstream pundits."
WISE: Yes, people do not kill themselves,
by and large, just for shits and giggles; nor because they are
evil or irrational. There are lots of evil, irrational people
in history and few of them blew themselves up. This indicates
a deep and abiding sickness, not only in the bomber who can think
of no other way to make his or her point or be heard, but in
the society to which the bomber is responding. It bespeaks a
terrible desperation that cannot be understood by one who has
not lived it.
Of course, Israel itself is a suicide
culture, though they left this part out of my Hebrew School classes.
What else could one call a nation erected amidst folks who don't
want you there, whose land you had to steal, if not a land rooted
in a death wish? We may not blow ourselves up, but we sure as
hell have come up with a creative way to put our individual and
collective lives in danger--become usurpers of other people's
stuff: always a sure way to make people hate you.
The ultimate irony being that the only
place on the planet where Jews are truly threatened with daily
violence is the one place where we were told we would be safe.
Told that by people with some kind of sick death wish, I guess,
who wanted to show how tough we could be in the wake of the Shoah
or something. I'm not a psychologist, but the absurdity of the
Zionist dream, and the obvious dangers it always entailed for
Jews, makes me wonder if there wasn't a certain amount of survivor's
guilt involved on the part of the Jewish leaders who actually
pushed the creation of the state at the UN, and those who treat
Israel like a kidney patient treats a dialysis machine today.
Almost a sick kind of risk-taking by those who had themselves
escaped the Nazi terror. I dunno. I'm sure I'll catch hell for
that one.
"MEDIA: We're fighting a bitter
war against evil terrorists who hate our way of life.
"EXPERIENCE: No we're not, we're
slaughtering thousands for oil and strategic whatever."
WISE: And because of a mindset of entitlement
that has long been part of the Western, "white" worldview
too. Don't forget that. Oil is one piece, but there is still
that question of "what makes us think we're entitled to
the oil," and that, I think, has a little something to do
with white western supremacy, not just capitalism. I'll leave
it at that, and just recommend that folks read Marimba Ani's
book, "Yurugu: An African-Centered Critique of European
Cultural Thought and Behavior." It can fill in the gaps
for those who wish to pursue it.
"MEDIA: Asian-Americans, whether
Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese or Thai have integrated
into the great tapestry of America as model citizens.
"EXPERIENCE: Maybe so, but the only
representatives of this group of model citizens who are allowed
on TV are good-looking female newscasters. Jackie Chan has a
monopoly on Hollywood's representation of Asian Males. By the
way, can I get a few grand extra credit my MasterCard? I want
to order a couple of hot "brides" from the Philippines...
"
WISE: Well, the model minority thing
was created by the New York Times and LIFE magazine back in the
50s and 60s, as a way, specifically, to bash black folks for
their continued "failure" to attain the American dream.
Of course, the same media outlets that pushed the model Asian
imagery had supported Japanese internment, and never editorialized
in favor of lifting immigration restrictions that remained in
place till 1965. They also didn't, by and large, mind bombing
model minorities in Southeast Asia, to my recollection.
I've written a piece on the fallacies
of the Model Minority imagery, and instead of repeating everything
here would just recommend that people who are interested should
read it at:http://www.zmag.org/
Tim Wise
is an antiracist activist, writer and father. He can be reached
at: timjwise@msn.com
Adam Engel can
be reached at: bartleby.samsa@verizon.net
Weekend
Edition Features for Nov. 29 / 30, 2003
Peter Linebaugh
On
the Anniversary of the Death of Wolfe Tone
Gary Leupp
Politicizing War on Fox News: a Tale of Two Memos
Saul Landau
Lying and Cheating:
Bush's New Political Math
Michael Adler
Inside a Miami Jail: One Activist's Narrative
Anthony Arnove
"They Put the Lie to Their Own Propaganda": an Interview
with John Pilger
Greg Weiher
Why Bush Needs Osama and Saddam
Stephen Banko, III
A Soldier's Dream
Forrest Hylton
Empire and Revolution in Bolivia
Toni Solo
The "Free Trade" History Eraser
Ben Terrall
Don't Think Twice: Bush Does Bali
Standard Schaefer
Unions
are the Answer to Supermarkets Woes
Richard Trainor
The Political Economy of Earthquakes: a Journey Across the Bay
Bridge
Mark Gaffney
US Congress Does Israel's Bidding, Again
Adam Engel
The System Really Works
Dave Lindorff
They, the Jury: How the System Rigs the Jury Pool
Susan Davis
Framing the Friedmans
Neve Gordon
Arundhati Roy's Complaint for Peace
Mitchel Cohen
Thomas Jefferson and Slavery
Ben Tripp
Capture Me, Daddy
Poets' Basement
Kearney, Albert, Guthrie and Smith
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