Official Protest Thread...
- Thread starter Camille
- Start date
After a presence of more that four centuries in America, many whites still consider them outsiders.
After a presence of more that four centuries in America, many whites still consider them outsiders. Stephen Morton Getty Images
With preemptive apologies to grammarians everywhere, today we ponder the following question:
Who is “we?”
That syntactic atrocity is prompted by a recent colloquy between Laura Ingraham of Fox “News” and former GOP operative Patrick Buchanan. They were talking on Ingraham’s podcast about what they see as the impossibility of America absorbing more newcomers from what Buchanan called “the second or the third world.” Then he dropped this gem:
“African Americans have been here since 1619. They’ve helped build and create the nation. They’re part of its culture and history, and yet we haven’t fully assimilated African-American citizens.”
“We?”
Presumably, he means the country, which raises an obvious question. What does it say about America that black people have been here 400 years, “helped build and create it,” are integral to “its culture and history,” yet are still considered outsiders?
Here’s something equally obvious. When Buchanan says “we,” he does mean America. But when he says “America,” he means white people. Not that he’s the only one to rhetorically ostracize people of color.
Journalists do it all the time when they use terms like “evangelicals” to refer to religious white people, “southerners,” to denote white people in Dixie or “working class” to designate white people with blue collar jobs — as if people of color did not go to church, live below the Mason-Dixon Line or punch time clocks.
Donald Trump did it when he recently tweeted that politicians in storm-torn Puerto Rico “only take from USA.” As if Puerto Ricans, who gained citizenship in 1917, were somehow separate from “USA.”
Too often, then, people of color live in other people’s blind spots, unseen in the shadow of their assumptions. Some of us have a default image of what constitutes “American,” and it rules out Spanish surnames, dark skin and prayers to Allah.
Which stands in stark contrast to the values America claims to hold dear. For 243 years, the country has balanced in the tension between what we claim and what we are. In 2019, though, that tension is ramped up by a sense of the demographic clock ticking down on white primacy. It’s not too much to say that in some quarters, a kind of panic has set in over the notion that some day soon, white people will no longer hold numerical superiority.
It’s that panic that made a woman cry, “I want my country back,” that sent people hunting for Barack Obama’s “real” birth certificate, that inspired ponderous think pieces on the demise of the WASP establishment, that elected Trump president, that made white evangelicals betray their stated convictions. It’s that panic that has Buchanan and Ingraham fearing the future.
He sees the country becoming “a giant Mall of America.” She thinks the English language might disappear.
The irony is that if the country is, indeed, doomed, it is not because immigrants flock here, drawn by its ideals. When have they not done that?
No, if America fails, it will be because people like Buchanan and Ingraham lacked the courage to live up to those ideals. It will be because it was still possible, as late as 2019, for a white man to regard African Americans, progenitors of America’s music, fighters of its wars, tillers of its fields and redeemers of its sacred values, as somehow alien to America. And it will be because he and people like him still arrogantly arrogate unto themselves, as if handed down from the very hand of God, the right to determine who “we” is.
And, more important, who “we” is not.
Wow. I didn't actually request the brochure. BTW local golf galaxies were offering classes to introduce kids to the sport, not sure when the cut off date is or if it's past, the price was reasonable tho.
They are.
Free healthcare for all illegal immigrants but reparations aren’t feasible
If you can’t see they all are practitioners of racism then I don’t know what to tell you.
Free healthcare for all illegal immigrants but reparations aren’t feasible
If you can’t see they all are practitioners of racism then I don’t know what to tell you.
They are.
Free healthcare for all illegal immigrants but reparations aren’t feasible
If you can’t see they all are practitioners of racism then I don’t know what to tell you.
I disagree.
As far as healthcare I don't think undocumented immigrants should be given free healthcare, but I think they should be allowed to purchase a plan. If they go to the hospital or emergency room and they skip out on the bill, we are paying for it with higher healthcare costs anyway.
If you really want reparations, you can advocate for immigrants and black folks at the same time. We have all these experts saying how these kids are never going to be right again because of the stuff they are experiencing short term. Yet we have generations of black folks who suffered worse and are still feeling the effects.
The Japanese are doing what we should be doing. We know the pain caused our communities, we should be fighting against having another damaged population and seeking to help ourselves at the same time. We are refusing to use the moral authority we have in this area. We can say the treatment of immigrants is wrong and we know first hand and that our communities are still in need of healing.
I don't take y'alls reparations talk seriously tho. Most of the folks I see on here seeking them at the same time are anti voting or don't want to vote dem, yet can't explain how they get reparations passed with the GOP in power when dems are the only ones even willing to consider it. Right now it's just being used as a tool to divide black folks and stifle the vote again.
https://timesevents.nytimes.com/1619NYC
The New York Times Magazine Presents The 1619 Project
AUGUST 13, NEW YORK CITY
Four hundred years ago, on August 20, 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown. Though America did not even exist yet, their arrival marked its foundation, the beginning of the system of slavery on which the country was built. In August, The New York Times Magazine will observe this anniversary with a special project that examines the many ways the legacy of slavery continues to shape and define life in the United States.
Please join us on August 13 to launch this project with an evening of conversation and performance at TheTimesCenter, featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones, Wesley Morris, Jamelle Bouie, Tyehimba Jessand more.
Watch the free live stream here on Tuesday, August 13, at 7 p.m. E.T.
https://timesevents.nytimes.com/1619NYC
The New York Times Magazine Presents The 1619 Project
AUGUST 13, NEW YORK CITY
Four hundred years ago, on August 20, 1619, a ship carrying more than 20 enslaved Africans arrived in Jamestown. Though America did not even exist yet, their arrival marked its foundation, the beginning of the system of slavery on which the country was built. In August, The New York Times Magazine will observe this anniversary with a special project that examines the many ways the legacy of slavery continues to shape and define life in the United States.
Please join us on August 13 to launch this project with an evening of conversation and performance at TheTimesCenter, featuring Nikole Hannah-Jones, Wesley Morris, Jamelle Bouie, Tyehimba Jessand more.
Watch the free live stream here on Tuesday, August 13, at 7 p.m. E.T.
https://timesevents.nytimes.com/1619NYC