So, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded. And it goes to Barack Obama, which has now set off an avalanche of grousing and complaining and sarcasm from the right and left. At least we won’t have to talk about the Olympics not being in Chicago any longer. It is always noteworthy when the right and left pick up on the same talking points. Funny for teasing your friends on either side (hey, you and Fox agree!), but also instructive about larger cultural stuffs. Read the rest of this entry »
Barack Obama
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Obama's Nobel
October 9, 2009 in Africa, African-Americans, Barack Obama, Nobel Peace Prize, Obama Nobel, Obama Nobel Peace Prize, War in Iraq, colonialism, is racism dead?, memory, post-racism, race, racial representation, racism by John | 4 comments
Post Election, Post Racism?
November 6, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, injustice, is racism dead?, justice, post-racism, racial representation, racism, whiteness by John | 9 comments
OK, so a long election cycle is over. I wondered if the chattering class – a class to which I aspire – would have much left to say. I mean, seriously, so much has been said already. I’m of course wrong. I should have known that the big and apparently only question would be raised: will this election lead people to say that racism is over?
The New, Dribble-friendly Elitism
August 2, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, Fox News, racial representation, racism, whiteness by John | 4 comments
Basketball versus bowling. Who knew it had such implications? I mean, seriously, when is the last time we talked about the Dream Team in the Professional Bowlers Association? Or even just saw bowling on television at a time other than 3pm on a Sunday? Turns out, this might be an important signifier in electoral rhetoric. How?
Tags: basketball, elitism, Karl Rove, NBA, Sean Hannity
Repairing, Apology
August 2, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, apology, election 2008, forgiveness, injustice, justice, memory, poverty, racial representation, racism, reparations, slavery apology by John | No comments
I’m really not enjoying the strange journey of race in the presidential election thing. I doubt many people are, save for the occasional Karl Rove, for whom it is a fabulous tactic – if you’re creative. I must admit to being surprised, though, to see the issue of reparations come up. It’s a nuanced and compelling issue, if one has the time to examine all of the folds. It’s about memory, state history, back wages, social justice, economics, the nature of representation, and so on. But that’s too much to ask. Turns out, sometimes a non-reparation actually is one.
Family Souljah
July 15, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, Reagan, capitalism, consumerism, election 2008, ideology, racial representation, racism by John | 3 comments
I’m officially a regular blogger again, starting today.
I really have a small comment to make, but maybe one that has big implications. No matter, I guess, as only a couple of hundred will read this, though I feel compelled to say this because I care about things like reason. To start: I remember the original Sister Souljah moment. It confirmed what I thought then and have always thought: Bill Clinton was icky, cruel, and actually quite comfortable being anti-black. That’s why this primary season had me barely (if that) restraining “told ya” every time the news had Bill’s newest quip about Obama.
Fear, Hope
March 28, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, Jeremiah Wright, Martin Luther King, colorblind racism, colorblindness, election 2008, injustice, justice, memory, racial representation, racism, whiteness by John | 4 comments
Reprinted from The Public Humanist. It is always a nice thing to see Socrates made contemporary. Or at least have something to say about about contemporary things, so I’m just so pleased to see Robert Meagher write this piece about fear and hope. The range – and so the possibilities – of human emotion is one of those perennial philosophical issues. And too much evidence points to the constant presence of fear, too little presence of hope. I find a small thread of both hope and fear in the same place these days: race and all those companion emotions.
Keeping Company
March 19, 2008 in "A More Perfect Union", African-Americans, Barack Obama, apology, colorblind racism, colorblindness, confession, forgiveness, injustice, justice, memory, racial representation, racism, whiteness by John | 6 comments
I’ll add to the huge number of editorials and blogs on Obama’s “big speech on race.” I read the transcript and watched a bit of it, but not without some regret that it had come to this moment. Why did Obama have to give this sort of speech? Who provoked it and why? But it was provoked. No going back from that. And he gave what, to my mind, was a solid and actually quite brave account of his relation to all sorts of pain. Read the rest of this entry »
Our History, A Little Bit Of Messiah
February 19, 2008 in Barack Obama, Barack Obama is the messiah, Cindy McCain, injustice, justice, messiah, messianism, poverty, racial representation, racism by John | 7 comments
Two things struck me in recent campaign commentary and “controversy.” They say a lot about how, even at a moment when we are witnessing an unthinkable, the pain of the past seems to fog our vision. Yes, I’m talking about how it is entirely possible that we will have a black president. I wonder if we’ve even begun to register how the once unthinkable is almost mundanely becoming, well, thinkable (don’t we expect a bigger soundtrack?). The moment it becomes so momentous, however, that moment is being sunk by how painful the history that makes it “a moment” actually is… Read the rest of this entry »
What's it take to raze a campaign?
January 22, 2008 in African-Americans, Barack Obama, Bush, George W. Bush, Hillary Clinton, apology, election 2008, feminism, gender, ideology, racial representation, racism, slate.com, whiteness by John | 1 comment
It has been awhile, but having now finished a big project, I’m back to regular blogging. And what better topic for getting back into it than the current election stuff. I do have a lot to say. In particular, about this strange ascension of Hillary Clinton and the genuinely baffling coverage of the “race.” OK, that’s a cheap pun, but I had to. I’ll pass over the saucier stuff on, say, Vincent Foster, whose case would send lefties over the edge (rightly) if the name had been Bush or Cheney, not Clinton. There are other things to discuss. Read the rest of this entry »