On the face of it, she did not state that there is no racism today, simply that the quality of life for non-caucasians has improved a lot over the years. I tend to agree, and would add that much of the so-called racial justice or equality movements today are nothing more than a means to seek artificial economic advantage.
Exactly. Thanks for making my point. American history textbooks which teach an inaccurate history of, oh, say Columbus, create an adult who does not understand that movements are fueled by deep ideals which remain, even though issues are deemed resolved. Abortion is a perfect example. You can see how Roe v. Wade did not settle this issue in America. It is still deeply troubling for many and is still being argued. You can trivialize that debate by saying it's all about the money, and many people do.
My point is that its about ideas and how very barren our history books are in teaching how great ideas have bumped into each other like tectonic plates colliding and created sociological earthquakes.
Instead of dismissing a movement as being all about the money (which is an almost Nooryesq bumper sticker response akin to "they want to control us"), have you ever wondered why they keep going since we have all these civil rights laws? Do you wonder why there's a hispanic now leading the NAACP? And how do African Americans feel about that? Do you ask yourself if there are differences in wages for different races? And if you believe things are so much better, what is your measuring stick?
I'm suggesting that full citizenship and a feeling of being fully American starts with our real history. We here at CoastGab talk all the time about how the government lies and covers up. Imagine if the real history of your ancestors was obliterated? Imagine if you read a history book as a young child that was titled "Your People Fail Again." When our children read "The Triumph of the American Nation," they quickly see that that means the triumph of the White American Nation at the expense of everyone else.
We bill ourselves as a melting pot. We had an ideal, a glorious ideal, that people come here to become American, to become one of us. It didn't quite work out and so now our glorious ideal is that people come here to be free of oppression so they can be their Bulgarian/Columbian/Russian/German/Italian selves.
And sneak in their relatives. This is a country churning and yet many think history is boring. Well, it is if the life is sucked out of it. And as you know, Philosopher, the life of a movement is the ideal behind it. The suffragette movement doesn't exist any more because the problem was resolved. Summon your natural curiosity to overcome your irritation and ask yourself what is really behind these equality movements?
Anagrammy
PS. One thing I thought was funny as I was tossing around ideas in my head--the minorities think that white privilege pulls the strings, the white think that the elite white NWO pull the strings. And now we hear that the Trilateral Commission bunch thinks the media pull the strings! hahahaha
