RACE, CLASS, POLITICS AND OBAMA



“Race has no place in American life or law.”

-John F. Kennedy




JFK made that statement in 1963, at the height of the Birmingham racial crisis. He sent the troops in the next day.

A few years earlier, President Eisenhower had dispatched Federal troops to Arkansas to protect African American students attempting to desegregate Little Rock Central High School.


Southern whites who had defected in droves to the Democratic Party after Eisenhower’s action again deserted, back to the Republican Party after Kennedy’s bold, decisive move to end the anarchy in Birmingham.

They didn’t get it then, and still don’t get it, that America is less about “race” than the economic bottom line. It was the business community in Birmingham that put pressure on the political leaders to reach a settlement with the civil rights movement, for the simple reason that the demonstrations and riots were disrupting commerce.

The Federal Government was also concerned about the disruption of business and the damage to the country’s image abroad. At international conferences, all foreign leaders wanted to talk about was “what the hell is going on in Birmingham, Mr. Secretary of State?”

The white working class did not know that the whole concept of “race” originated as a tool of economic necessity, that their perceived white skin privilege was simply a game played on them all along by the capitalist upper classes.


In colonial America initially, there was very little difference in the status of European and African indentured workers. They lived together, intermarried and produced millions of mulattos, and could earn their freedom after a period of servitude. When they rioted together in the early 1700s in New York, the concept of “race” emerged to keep the workers divided, and Africans were relegated to lifetime bondage and chattel slavery.


While the white working class was fed a steady diet of racial indoctrination, the upper classes never really believed the crap they were propagating as racial “science.” Even the man most responsible for the science of racial inferiority didn’t believe what he wrote. It is evident in Jefferson’s writings and his almost maniacal, tortured obsession with race that he was wrestling with his conscience, trying to reconcile it with the new racial doctrine which he knew damn well was a load of crap. The only woman in his life that we know of in fact, was an African, Sally Hemmings.


The white upper class generally knows only one color, green. They are mostly indifferent to everybody who is not part of their socioeconomic group, whether black or white. They demonstrated in their response to the 60s civil rights uprising that “law and order” (read, the smooth flow of commerce) is more important to them than the white lower classes’ perceived white skin privilege, and that they are willing to adapt and adjust in response to changing labor, economic and political realities.


They’re generally more educated, better bred and have more of a social conscience. The anti-slavery movement leaders, abolitionists and great philanthropists all came from the New England aristocratic upper class-Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Clarence Darrow, the Kennedys, etc.

Of course there are always exceptions. Lincoln and John Brown came from working class families and Lyndon Johnson, who got the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed was a southerner also with working class roots. But Lincoln and John Brown were no ordinary men. And Lyndon Johnson, whatever his racial ideology, was being practical in the face of the crisis facing the nation. On the whole, social change has historically been led by people from the upper classes.


The European American working class on the other hand, are the only ones still clinging stupidly to some outdated idea of racial “superiority.” Think about it, when was the last time you heard of a racial incident on the Upper East Side of Manhattan? Or any affluent or upper class white neighborhood? They only happen in places like Howard Beach and other parts of Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn and parts of Long Island, all working class communities. Wonder why African Americans have so many problems with the Police? Well it helps to remember that the police come mostly from the white working class!

The ruling upper class is no longer solely European, as evidenced by Colin Powell, Condi Rice, Time Warner Chairman Dick Parsons, American Express Chairman O’Neal, and yes, Senator Barack Obama.

Is America ready to elect a president of African descent? We will find out soon enough. But is the white working class ready to join the rest of America? That is the question.

At the risk of over-generalizing, these are the dumbest people in America. They fought to preserve slavery when they owned no slaves and no stake in the plantation system, and actually stood to lose since a slave labor system lowered their value as white workers!

On close examination, they’re no different from the African American lower classes. They share the same median income,(and in some areas, the African American median income is higher)the same education levels, the same pathologies, and the same concerns about crime, unemployment, high rent and taxes, war, medical care and social security. They also depend on financial aid and state institutions of higher learning. So exactly why do they still think they’re somehow “superior?”

Well, five hundred years of racial indoctrination is hard to shake off. And their perceived white skin privilege is the only thing they have left, after the social revolution of the last half-century. That’s why you have all these “angry white men.”

Common sense would dictate that Obama and John Edwards, with their promise of change and a check on corporate greed, would be the logical choice of the working and middle classes, black and white. That either Obama, Edwards or a combined ticket should sweep the Republicans out of office by a landslide. (Hilary Clinton is a Republican at heart, don’t be fooled by the tears)

But common sense and impartial logic are two things the white working class seems incapable of. Recent studies show the people most likely not to vote for Obama because of his “race” are poor uneducated whites. And if the Democrats lose this election, you can blame your dumb arse trailer park white trash neighbors.

Very interesting. It is likely that issues to do with the economy, class differences and the ever-expanding wealth divide in the US, will come to the forefront of public debate over the next few years.

Decadence has allowed the masses to become fixated on issues like Paris Hilton's latest handbag, and Amy Whinehouse's latest cocaine binge. Remove the decadence, and discourse with real substance will gradually return.

With economic turbulence (possibly very serious) people will come to look again at class, race relations/politics and ask themselves: where exactly is America heading?

The UK and Europe are also facing hard times just around the corner. With economic hardship, people will begin to question the benefits of rampant capitalism. So self-assured after the collapse of the USSR - the proponents of globalization never seemed to realise; capitalism's greatest enemy is itself.

Hopefully, rather than the various races and cultures turning on eachother as the scramble for resources heats up, they will instead look more closely at their new, global "masters".


I read an excellent quote recently:

"At the centre of human nature is politics. At the centre of politics, is economics."

"the proponents of globalization never seemed to realise; capitalism's greatest enemy is itself. "



Intriguing statement. Suggests sort of an implosion from within the sysytem, but exactly how?

Could you elaborate? Thanks.

Every power structure is built on people being ignorant and manipulable.

I don't hear the Black upper class saying accounting should be mandatory for everyone. I don't hear any politicians talking about the planned obsolescence of cars either. Shouldn't accounting be easy for everyone with the computers we have now?

It is as though most of the talk about economics and politics is to make sure most people stay confused.

um

apparently i cant have an opinion on this as im not american so i cant vote.