This week on CounterSpin: Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Rather than taking from the election that Democrats have to better intersect defense of the human rights of people of color, women, LGBTQ people, Muslims and other marginalized groups with a clear progressive economic vision, some in the so-called liberal media now tell us that the lesson is that we all should, for goodness sake, stop talking about Muslims and queer people and women and the black and brown.
That’s not, naturally, how social justice advocates are responding. They’re getting together to share strategies for protecting vulnerable communities and resisting the predations on our civil rights. One such gathering of activists and academics was a recent webinar hosted by the African American Policy Forum. It featured a range of voices. I’ll bring just two: Sumi Cho, professor at DePaul University School of Law, and Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter.
Transcript: ‘There Is Nothing at All That Replaces Grassroots Organizing’
Also on the show: Minimizing and misunderstanding the role of racism in US political life is hardly new. Thanksgiving, for instance, will no doubt include a hefty portion of delusion about friendly sharing between settlers and Native Americans. If journalism is the first draft of history, it’s also true that misshapen history continues to distort journalism. We’ll revisit a conversation we had on that issue with Jim Loewen, author of the classic Lies My Teacher Told Me.
Transcript: ‘We Completely Misunderstand the Most Important Thing That Ever Happened in the Country’
First, a look back on the week’s press, including blaming “identity politics” and Trump vs. Hamilton.
Protesting still going one. I think it should be continue until Trump will be in white house. He is taking over in January 20, 2017
I love your show. I am also white. As you lament, this conversation will have no context to you unless I bring up the color of my skin so that you can judge me based upon it.
I love how you point out how media only covers part of the story sometimes, and I hope that you can appreciate how I will attempt to point out how your show today only covered part of the story as well.
I do not disagree with any of the points that you made today, but I feel that there is more to be said.
As a white person, I am always ashamed of the color of my skin. I am ashamed of what some of my ancestors did. Every step that I take on this stolen land eats away at my soul. Yet I was born here, and here I will remain.
History happened. I’d change it if I could, but I can’t. I can only affect the present. I don’t want to detract from anyone else’s suffering (just as, I’m sure, nobody would dare to trivialize my own suffering), but I do want to move forward. As you say, forgetting the past is certainly no way to move forward.
My own counterspin to that point would be: can we actually move forward without leaving the past behind? At a certain point, don’t we all have to start looking at each other as Americans rather than judging each other by the color of our skin?
Growing up out West in the 90s I can honestly say: I didn’t know what a black person was until someone pointed out to me that there is a different name for people whose skin is a different color. I just always thought they were people, like me and everyone else out West. (what if it wasn’t that guy back in the 90s who pointed it out to me first? What if it was you, on your show, today?)
So, there you go. “Thoughts from a white person”. You and the rest of the media can feel free to aggregate this data point however you wish. Regardless of your judging me by my race, religion, political party, or whatever, I remain a unique individual. If you find that inconvenient, that’s not my problem.