Zinn, Tea, and Rhetorical Conversation 

Economy vs. Race?

This entry is in response to a blog posting on my friend's site titled, "chuck d and race relations" - make sure to check it out here . It's been a few days, er weeks since my last posting, so I'm re-wetting my feet as they say... the rust shows a tad bit, so go easy on a brutha.

Hello, Hello
MJ’s at a place called Vertigo!

Let me get this straight… The premise here is that economic needs and wants are the sole motivating factors moving the masses do as they will at the expense of the poor?

Hmm, that makes as much sense as blaming Steve Bartman for the Cubs not making it to the World Series in ’03 while failing to talk about Alex Gonzalez’ error, Mark Prior falling apart when then game was on the line and completely forgetting to mention Game 7.

Economy DOES play a major role in the grand scheme, as does race, “class,” gender, geographic location, and so on. To say that the economy is the primary reason for inequalities fails to address a big picture perspective and consequently makes for a sidestep of sorts – the Snickers bar left to float and eventually sink to the bottom of the punch bowl. Ceep, don’t bogart that shit, pass it over here!

Karl Marx once said, “Labour cannot emancipate itself in the white skin where in the black skin it is branded.” Think what you will about that statement, but race has always been intertwined with economic disparities.

Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” clearly and quite vividly illustrates how white peeps felt and wrote about their feelings of superiority towards Indians, Mexicanos, Californios, Blacks, etc during the days of Black Slavery and The Mexican-American War. Why do the history books classify two forms of slavery; your run of the mill basic, standard equiped Slavery versus Black Slavery? You guessed it… not until colonial days did slavery become a racial condition – a belief that blacks were inferior (uh-hum, three-fifths of a person).

Even those opposed to the Mexican War spoke of a “wretched people, wretched in their origin, history, and character,” Theodore Parker. This was from an anti-war advocate! His feelings were the norm throughout the Union. Don’t believe me? Look it up. Countless historians write of Americans perpetuating the notion of superiority and as such blacks were thought of to be black because of disease or because of punishment by GOD or because of a close relation to animals and so on. Is that racist enough for ya?

Economic factors these are not. I still hear white folks holler words such as Nigger, Spic, Nip, etc. You think being called a Redneck carries the same baggage as does calling someone a Coon or a Wetback? Experiment with it… better yet don’t.

Cutting to the chase…

My point is that race indeed plays a huge role in inequalities. I experience it almost everyday – in subtle or not so subtle ways. My sister never really bought into the whole institutional racism thing – are we not a civilized society – after a year at UCLA, she knew different. My little sister – a quarter at UCR – she knows what’s up.

I can go on for hours about this, but I won’t – I hope I’ve articulated my point as intended. Neither race nor economy are sole factors in the inequalities in this country, but race, in my experience (notice it’s not an opinion) has been the most dominating. To a lesser extent, social environment, family, and economic factors all play a role… but so did Rick Fox in all those Laker Championships.

C/S (to the fifth power)
- Lucio