memory

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Columbus and Memory

October 12, 2009 in Columbus, Columbus Day, colonialism, injustice, justice, memorials, memory, racism by John | No comments

Two years ago, I posted this reflection on Columbus Day. I was prompted to the reflection in part by an ongoing tiff with the very idea of Columbus Day, the idea that we mark such a terrifying event in world history with a day of leisure. I was prompted just as much (or more) by a New York Times article on laying claim to the Columbus name…what it means to be a long descended relative, etc. On this Columbus Day, I wanted to revisit the holiday and a particular video that’s making the viral rounds. Read the rest of this entry »

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 | 3 comments

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 »

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.

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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.

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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 »

Murderously My Family

October 8, 2007 in Columbus, Columbus Day, disaster, ideology, injustice, justice, memorials, memory, racism, reparations, whiteness by John | 3 comments

Updated thoughts on Columbus Day…HERE.

I’ve debated whether or not to blog on Columbus Day. Not “on” this particular day – though a case can be made for a day of silence today – but “about” this day, this figure, this holiday. I’d decided not. I didn’t want to be too trite or repetitive, just rehearsing now familiar stuff about Columbus as murderer and vanguard of what became a bloody, cruel rot in the heart of European “civilization.” Read the rest of this entry »

Naming Names After Katrina

August 30, 2007 in 9/11, African-Americans, Katrina, New Orleans, disaster, injustice, justice, memory, racism by Kate | 2 comments

Yesterday was the second anniversary of the disaster we call Katrina. I was surprised that there was no reading of names, no pause for a moment to remember each soul lost, as there is when we remember so many other tragedies. Read the rest of this entry »

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