Yay! Okay, so I already cyberstalked Jill Tubman of Jack and Jill Politics. I’ve Tweeted Liza at Culture Kitchen. I can’t wait to figure out who else from my Bloglines list is here…
I’m now at the plenary about The Race Debates. We’re watching a video clip of all the talking heads who said, now that we have an African-American president, America is no longer racist, and we’re post-racial now. Terry Keleher is the Moderator.
We’re starting debate 1: Health Care Disparities. Interactive Section discussing opening comments. Totally confused. Amusing, but confusing. Anti-race speaker, Julianne Ong Hing, of Colorlines, correctly points out economic disparities in our capitalist society are a critical factor. Good answer…audience chuckles about “identity politics” smear…ultimately, “we have a choice in how we live.” Dominic’s (Dom Apollon, Ph.D., Applied Research Center) answer talks about healthcare disparities and misdiagnoses of treatments, and does address the economics, but talks more about lack of access/structural racism.
Discussion:
- Julianne (concealing race) used race to put Dom on the defensive, with a moving personal anecdote
- She used well-known stereotypes, and coded them, making it subtle
- She pitted race against class, an effective argument
- Dom (revealing race) was effective in revealing how the gov’t betrays POC, especially First Nations
- He tried to avoid directly speaking to issue of race/calling out racism
- While what he said was logical, there wasn’t the passion
- He attempted to show patterns of racism; how do we do this, without getting reduced to academic jargon?
Tehcniques for Concealing Racism
- Denying & Exceptionalizing
- Coding & Scapegoating
- Deflecting & Confusing
Techniques for Revealing Racism
- Name It
- Frame It
- Explain It
Debate 2: Race Silence v. Race Explicit (this sounds sexy…hope my batter makes it!)
Can we address race using class or universal frames? Kalpana and Shannah will debate
Kalpana: we need to build the broadest coalition possible, let’s appeal to self-interest. Used Montana as example. Invoked Obama and “change.” Don’t move against public opinion.
Shannah: won’t go away by pretending it’s not there. Universal healthcare for kids gets chopped away by selecting out groups little by little. We cut out people by appealing to the majority. When we lead with grace, we expand the base. We need to speak on it to se who our allies are. It’s about playing offense.
This was spicy! In my group are (just from my visuals and member comments) two white women who were activists since the 60s, a 20ish Asian American woman, and this 30ish Black women
Kilpana’s rebuttal: “we’re on the same side.” “We didn’t do our jobs, if we lose our campaigns.” “poor people are sicker than rich people”
Shannah: let’s think long-term, not short term. Refuse to let go of the racism. White people won’t think about racism unless they’re made to.
Discussion
- Kalpana was very charismatic and dangerous
- Collette Kieth mentions, in Native American issues, how racism can shut down a conversation
- Malkia Cyril brings up Prop 8 and the No on 8 campaigns, how relationships change
- We need to consider what is lost when we give up conversations on race; just because we don’t talk about it, doesn’t mean it’s not at play
Wow, I think I’m on a high with this! Could be the bubble black tea, though. Can’t front.
