Comments on: Massa Mitt Does South of the Border

By: Rutee Katreya

Rutee Katreya — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 10:08:03 +0000

My sister is a white-passing latin@ when people can see her in front of them. I am a brown Latin@.

Race is a social construct; there is no biological basis on which to make the distinction. It’s driven by cultural narratives which is why when you look at other societies, people tend to be astounded by the differences in categories.

Not that any explanation matters, you’re clearly a racist simpleton who thinks they’ve stumbled onto a novel concept. What about black latin@s? Passing native americans? It’s not as simple as you wish to believe, however much you hold onto your little narrative.

By: blackskeptics

blackskeptics — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 21:52:43 +0000

In reply to Jadehawk. Absolutely; this is because the discourse on poverty has been utterly racialized as the province of lazy black folk

By: Jadehawk

Jadehawk — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 08:06:59 +0000

In reply to smrnda.

for a while, in response to the “we are the 99%” slogan and picture-meme, there was a reactive “we are the 53%” meme of conservative whites holding signs with their narratives. When you read them, it turned out that quite a number of them weren’t actually in that 53%, because they were students, or underemployed, or veterans who can’t work. And many of them were scraping bottom as working poor, working multiple jobs, working the same job on an illegal double-shift-without-overtime, generally working themselves raw; but they still insist that THEY are not the poor.

Total disconnect.

By: TheVirginian

TheVirginian — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 06:13:33 +0000

First, very good post. As a (soon-to-be-60) white Southern male, I have seen/heard more racist bigotry and injustice than I ever would want to.
As a response to some comments, though: The original, legal, theoretical basis for the enslavement of Africans and for bans on what we call interracial sex had nothing to do with “race.” Africans were pagans, so Christians were prohibited from sexual contact but allowed to enslave them. (Slave comes from Slav, as Christian crusaders captured so many pagan Slavs in centuries of warfare/raiding that Slav became synonymous with forced labor.) When the modern concept of race was developed in the later 18th century, slavery and bigotry had been entrenched for more than a century because of religious beliefs. The concept of race – blacks, Indians, Asians (and later Jews) were biologically inferior – then “explained” why they resisted conversion to the true religion and source of morality, Christianity.
The stereotypes about Africans and their descendants, like Christian stereotypes about Jews, women, atheists, etc., start from theological beliefs in the inferiority/inherent immorality of non-Christians, which are then rationalized by “evidence” from life. (That individual black/Jew/atheist was lazy, a thief, an adulterer, whatever, which is proof that all are like that.

By: tobiasmbonne

tobiasmbonne — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 01:21:01 +0000

In reply to smrnda.

I take your point but speaking of unjust laws as if they weren’t in fact laws seems more like shying away from the issue, than adressing it.
Also, adressing the illegality of a persons immigration status makes it easier to adress the illegality of that persons employment, which in turn exposes the hypocrisy of having segments of economy which are dependant upon “illegals”.
Showing how certain laws are bullshit is, I think, more effective then merely stating they are.

By: Simon Primer

Simon Primer — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 04:26:24 +0000

In reply to Jonathan, Foot In Mouth. Rapists and murderers? Now that's racist.

By: Jonathan, Foot In Mouth

Jonathan, Foot In Mouth — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:13:24 +0000

In reply to Simon Primer. Observe who scares Republicans.

By: Simon Primer

Simon Primer — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 22:01:49 +0000

In reply to octopod. How can you be sure who is black or white?

By: smrnda

smrnda — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:59:12 +0000

In reply to tobiasmbonne. The reason people say 'undocumented' is because it openly states that the laws are bullshit deserving of no more respect than any other unjust laws. The law may be the law, but in writing, we at least don't have to pretend to respect it if we don't.

By: octopod

octopod — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:58:05 +0000

In reply to Simon Primer. Yes, and these are social issues we're talking about!