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The Confusion Era In American Politics


I often call this period in America the confusion era, a reference to the paradigm shifting post-WWII period of the allied occupation of Japan documented by art historian Mark Sandler. During this time, Japan, once distinguished from the rest of Asia by its extraordinary isolation, opened to the world and underwent dramatic, sudden, and disorienting change.

Today the global economy is growing more complex even as it is expanding. Massive population shifts are occurring as wars, environmental catastrophes, deprivation, unfair trade policies, and international debt drive millions to migrate, especially from the resource exploited Southern hemisphere toward the so-called … Read more “The Confusion Era In American Politics”

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What Is White Supremacy, Anyway?

This Saturday, ChangeLab and OneAmerica are hosting an event in Seattle called The Past, Present & Future of Multiracial Solidarity. In preparation, I thought I’d offer my take on how white supremacy works, and some thoughts on what solidarity requires of us.

Just to be clear, by white supremacy, I don’t mean the KKK. I mean the set of ideas and beliefs that creates and enforces whiteness as the dominant norm.

No one has taught me more about white supremacy than Andrea Smith. Her scholarship led me to see not a single system of racial oppression, but what she … Read more “What Is White Supremacy, Anyway?”

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A Capital Idea: What We’re Talking About When We Talk About Race

The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) is described as “the style manual of choice for writers, editors, students, educators, and professionals in psychology, sociology, business, economics, nursing, social work, and justice administration, and other disciplines in which effective communication with words and data is fundamental.” One of the widely recognized goals of the manual is to suggest word choices that best reduce bias in our language.

Recently, the APA manual started suggesting that words referring to groups by race should be capitalized, as in, “Black” and “White.” They also say we should “avoid language that reifies race” … Read more “A Capital Idea: What We’re Talking About When We Talk About Race”

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Five Things You Should Know About Asian Americans

May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month. In honor of the occasion, here are five things that I think you should know about Asian Americans.*

1. We Don’t All Look Alike. In fact, most of us aren’t alike at all. When many non-Asians conjure a picture of “Asian American” in their minds, they see an East Asian person – someone whose roots can be traced to China, Korea, or Japan. But Asian America includes dozens of distinct and linguistically diverse ethnic groups originating from a region that encompasses much more than the Far East.

Moreover, we are immigrants or the … Read more “Five Things You Should Know About Asian Americans”

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What We’re Fighting About When We Fight About Racism

A few days ago the Q-Center, Portland, Oregon’s aspiring LGBTQ community hub, hosted a discussion about racism. The event was organized in response to a mostly-online fight that erupted over a local gay bar’s Facebook ad for a performance by white drag performer, Chuck Knipp.

Knipp’s bread and butter is the character, Shirley Q. Liquor, whom he describes as “an inarticulate black welfare mother with 19 children.” I’ll spare you video. The act is performed in black face and plays to damaging and hurtful stereotypes for laughs.

Hundreds weighed in on whether Shirley Q. Liquor is an example of racism, … Read more “What We’re Fighting About When We Fight About Racism”

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The Obama Paradox

I’ve gotten some grief lately over critical comments I’ve made about President Obama. Folks reference a piece I wrote a while back about why I was a supporter of Obama’s candidacy in the last election, calling on other racial justice advocates who were critical of his first term to join me. Why, folks now ask, would I so strongly support the candidacy of our nation’s first Black president, only to be so critical of his reign?

Here’s my answer. In politics, silence is often as good as consent.

We ought not stand mute in the face of human rights violations … Read more “The Obama Paradox”

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How Transformation Became Reformation: The Religious Right and the Rest of Us

The fight for same sex marriage rights has surfaced deep political divisions within the LGBT movement. On one side of the divide, marriage advocates say that winning marriage inclusion is just a step in a larger civil rights struggle. Meanwhile, marriage critics remind us that the movement that began with the Stonewall rebellion was a movement for sexual liberation and radical feminism, and not just civil rights. That movement included many who called for an end to state sanctioned marriage.

At the heart of the debate is a disagreement over strategy. One side wants to focus on liberation writ large, … Read more “How Transformation Became Reformation: The Religious Right and the Rest of Us”

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The GOP’s Uneasy Alliance

What, me worry?

– Alfred E. Neuman

There’s been a lot of talk lately about the GOP trying to change its image with minority voters. They’ve obviously gotten the memo on demographic change and are scrambling to catch up with history. Yet, in spite of their apparent desire to change, the party just affirmed its bullheaded opposition to same sex marriage at their annual spring meeting. Apparently, the GOP is being strong-armed into acting against its long-term interests by evangelical leaders whose loyalty is necessary in order to address short term needs like maintaining a GOP House majority through the … Read more “The GOP’s Uneasy Alliance”

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More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley

Yesterday I wrote about Brad Paisley’s Accidental Racist, his musical response to accusations of racism he faced for flying the rebel flag on his chest. Its message? The past is the past. Let’s get over it and move on.

But the song is worth further dissection because I think it reveals a great deal about why the GOP’s racist Southern Strategy was successful, and why it’s going to be tough for them to simply re-brand that strategy away in order to meet the challenge of demographic change.

For the uninitiated, the Southern Strategy was built on the ruins of … Read more “More on the Accidental Racism of Brad Paisley”

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The National “Conversation” Brad Paisley Would Like Us To Have About How He’s Not A Racist

Country singer Brad Paisley wants to have a national conversation on race. Paisley began that “conversation” with his single Accidental Racist, a painfully tortured defense against accusations of racism brought against him for wearing a rebel flag.

The rebel flag, I remind you, is a symbol of white supremacy, raised by the rebel army in defense of slavery, and then brought back after the war by the Ku Klux Klan as a symbol of resistance to Reconstruction.

The song includes a performance by rapper LL Cool Jay who provides the counterpoint in the conversation. He asks, among other things, that … Read more “The National “Conversation” Brad Paisley Would Like Us To Have About How He’s Not A Racist”