Beautiful essay on Lincoln and democracy, Heather. Guess I have to bring Abigail Adams into this and say "Remember the ladies" which was in a letter she wrote on March 31, 1776, to her husband. In response, John concludes his letter to Abigail's plea to 'Remember the Ladies. ' Although his tone is playful, John dismisses Abigail's request, saying, “I cannot but laugh,” and “you are so saucy.” I like to remind people that the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy, it is egalitarianism. We the People, all of us this time! Please.
I opened a video production with that letter. The production celebrated the women who have worked tirelessly for the right to vote to encourage all women to vote in the last election.
Gailee, thank you for sharing your video, a truly professional, meaningful and powerful story. Have you shared this to a wide audience? PBS? It’s among the best I have seen about women’s vote. Onward!
Starting around the 6m20s mark - the car breaking sound and fast-rewind speaking…chillingly poignant, Gailee! Thank you for this powerful, short documentary. 💙
IMHO your “small effort” far surpasses the usual messages we laypersons could produce and deserves wider distribution, notwithstanding your critical eye. For starters, the graphic that women in the West were ahead of the East in supporting women’s suffrage was news to me and had an impact. Thank you for doing this project.
Thank you for your words. Because I took photos from the internet, many were not in hi rez. Trying to get original photos is difficult. But. This is something that we, as women, can create for social media. It costs nothing, and many can be reached.
Good reminder. Thanks. I think I came across the exchange first in an autobiography of John Adam's a long time ago, the reading of it, that is. The marble rolling around in my mind since then has been a construct of deservedness of one over others, be is by gender or race or wealth possessed or salvation or some other artifice. The White man deserves because he is White. The smartest deserve because they are, well, the smartest. Man deserves because of some appendage joyfully appreciated by men. The saved are just special among themselves. This inherent deservedness because of some attribute as fundamental to the pursuit of and defense of inequality to the ends of time. The marble, in my ninth decade, now causes me to conclude that the search for domination always come back to inherent deservedness, not the examination of what is true or worthy or just amidst our species.
Here’s the rub, I think. Many humans do not accept original download from Creator. ‘We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.’
Greed and hierarchy and caste born in believing there is not enough to go around. And making it so by the hoarding and denying of resources.
You are wise, Fred, in your choice of words “inherent deservedness”. Our greatest gift after separation from Creator.
And President Lincoln had it exactly right about deservedness. And the diff between being ruled and governance. Aware and wise commentator Cathy Learoyd often says…We the People, All of Us This Time!
Yes, we keep playing a zero-sum game -- the OR game -- when we could be making bigger and more pies -- the AND game. I love how the Native Americans measure wealth by a person's generosity to others and seeing the entire community thrive.
I cannot remember the actual saying, but I used the concept during an interview for a position with a school district which was so polarized, it felt then much like this country feels today. It goes something like this: rather than draw a line in the sand, I will draw a circle around and enclosing all of us.
Here is Peggy McIntosh talking about social justice - privilege is above that line and things like suppression are below it. One point she makes is there is no need to be shamed by being white but instead use it to fight inequality. We need to teach all history but not take it out of the context of its time.
Thank you, Cathy for sharing Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege "list." I first studied it in a Master's Class, Social and Political Context in 2000. It helped me to more fully understand racially motivated bias and discrimination opposed to the antiSemitism I had experienced. I also started to teach through the lens of Anti-bias education starting in preschool through college and beyond, based on the work of Louise Dorman Sparks http://www.antibiasleadersece.com/louise-derman-sparks/. Anti-bias education should be the foundation of all levels of teaching from preschool through college. Especially if you're in a state that has laws against teaching TRUTH. Then you'll have to rename it and participate in the "Teaching as a Subversive Activity" model of education. (Neil Postman 1969)
Thank you to Dr. Richardson for this beautiful and illuminating essay not only on the history of Lincoln but more importantly on the meaning and justification of the equality of all. I see one side of the political divide trying to make this same case for equality, kindness, and compassion for all, and another trying to make the case for societal divisions. It matters not what justification is used for such false divisions skin color, race, place of birth, language, religious beliefs or none, or who one loves - these are all false distinctions that only serve to ultimately imprison all of us in a discriminatory society. In such a society no one will be first all are by definition enslaved.
Either we are all free and equal or none are free and all are unequal. In such a system there will always be someone more powerful who enslaves others and bends them to their will.
I urge those who would advocate such a system and seek to wield such power that no condition is permanent. Those who would be masters and enslavers today may find themselves enslaved tomorrow.
Well said. It is the very last sentence in your comment that is surely being played out in the fear so many of us Whites harbor as the demographics of the nation shift away from that which safeguarded the deservedness of our caste.
Now then, the opposite of egalitarianism is elitism.
America's dominant patriarchal control of government's Ying/Yang system is the Great Deception where only 5% of the American electorate, (republicans), have devised a cunningly disguised "Right" to have their opinions dominate over the 95% of the others, (Democrats, Independents, et. al.). Republican heavily anointed mouths lie egalitarianism, while at every opportunity their little greasy open hands protect the 5% elitist's enrichment.
And:
Since it seems that for the last couple of hundred years American government has failed in many ways even today under the top heavy control of patriarchy's deception that the top down benevolence "showered" upon the other 95% has been revealed repeatedly to be total BS.
And:
Since the voice of republicans at every level of American governance is obviously dominated by its patriarchal control disguised as their faux-egalitarian interpretation of The Constitution which, instead has repeatedly proven to be in actuality Elitism's deceptive transformation of America's Democracy.
Now, Therefore:
It is now our hope and prayer that this November 2022, and thereafter forevermore the decidedly rewarding emergence of the much more adept Democratic matriarchal forces of governance will begin their overdue extermination of those lying republican elitist who have sought the destruction of America's egalitarian Democracy.
Yes George. To will among the 95% would you conclude that we must convince a large proportion that is not their meager cup that will be take from them should the elite not survive a fair election?
That 95%, which you seem to feel estranged from, will hopefully clearly vote their opinion in November guided by fact, as opposed to the deceitful lies amplified by bigoted old fat moneyed white men's control of the RP.
Now Fred, by your oxymoronic linkage of fair with elite, you seem to be one of those who refuse to acknowledge the reality that this last election was the most fair election in the history of American democracy...
One wonders, Fred, what good you hope to gain by attempting to promote the lie of deception's willful destruction of American Democracy by the republicans???
Clearly we have not understood the other's point. I thought I understood yours leading up to your conclusion to vote intelligently. I shared with my son the other day that I have become any angry White man, angry at how my fellow White people follow and swallow the lies promoted by the right to protect them from the left stealing their deserved though meager tin cup when in fact the policies and goals of my progressive peers are to ensure sustenance is served daily to the 99% who might vote for our candidates. The word will was supposed to be what in my question to you. Editing and spellchecker are the two banes or my writing in streams of intended wit. Happy Valentines Day, George.
If Abe’s wife were as outstanding as Abigail Adams, he might have been inclined to “Remember the Ladies.” Instead, Mary Lincoln was a cantankerous, dour lady who spent like a drunken sailor to Abe’s personal and political embarrassment. She may be the reason that I cannot recall a single photo of Abe in which he was smiling.
Mary Todd was long a tortured soul, (plagued by mental health maladies that money didn’t solve). Additionally, she suffered so much loss within her immediate family. What I’ve read has left me thinking her a staunch supporter of her husband during his presidential tenure.
Broken people often break things and others. 🤷🏼♀️
Ashley I agree that Mary Todd Lincoln ‘was long a tortured soul.’ That does not obviate that, according to Doris Kearns Goodwin, she was a pain in the butt to President Lincoln, who was dealing with monumental matters.
Love Mark Twain’s thought on the subject. “The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” Started questioning, but didn’t land on Qanon, thank whatever God
I'm struck by a contrast in this illuminating commentary about equality and race: how openly the enslavers of Lincoln's day articulated their views about white supremacy compared to today's bigots. Now they communicate their bigotry via a veiled language of hints and vague innuendo. And by silently flashing white-power hand signals while smiling broadly, as if to say, "I'm declaring my racism oh so cleverly without saying a word." Of course there are slip-ups when they're caught in recordings using the N-word and other racial slurs. When confronted later they invariably knit their brows in faux distress and issue apologies everyone knows are insincere.
Trump summoned these cowards from the shadows. They attract like-minded people with whom they can share their hatred of others as long as none of those damn liberals are in earshot. You can be sure they'll never express and explain their bigotry publicly because they fear the harsh backlash that would follow. Or in unusual displays of "courage" they'll march around in matching polo shirts and khaki pants which fit much better than white hoods and sheets. But they're still cowards.
It's too bad they will never find themselves shipwrecked on the African coast and enslaved by dark-skinned people and, hopefully, have an epiphany.
No need to find an epiphany or two by being shipwrecked and enslaved. White people can work through Layla Saad's 28 questions to examine our individual participation in white privilege and the social institution of white supremacy. As one person doing the workbook, "Me and White Supremacy" wrote, "My sister asked 'haha what are you writing, how you participate in white supremacy?' as if it was a joke that I could ever be part of that system and I was like 'yes examining your participation in white supremacy is exactly the point' and she was like 'oh.'"
We have a mandate to walk the talk that all humans are created equal. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
Please consider supporting your local bookseller. They need our money more than Bezos. When you click over to the website, select ‘Indibound’ to see a list of booksellers in your area who carry this important work.
Agree. I never help Amazon if I can help it and I never buy books there. We have Powell's here in Oregon and that's where I usually get my books. I finally finished my Christmas books this week.
YesYesYes. I mourn the loss of some of my favorites every where I have lived back in the U.S. Especially Santa Monica, CA. . Anyone living in Houston, TX, this was my sanctuary. https://www.brazosbookstore.com/ I'm so blessed that Donosti Librería is across the street from me. It was begun by a couple while Franco was in power. Now run by the sons. They speak no English but have shelves chock a block full of literature in Spanish, English, Portuguese, y poco Russian and will order whatever is wished for.
My local bookstore will order most any title I request if they do not have it in stock. May I also suggest using your public library (not useful for a workbook, I understand), that community center of ‘socialism’.
"Layla is an East African, Arab, British, Black, Muslim woman who was born and grew up in the West, and lives in Middle East. Layla has always sat at a unique intersection of identities from which she is able to draw rich and intriguing perspectives. Her work is driven by her powerful desire to become a good ancestor; to live and work in ways that leave a legacy of healing and liberation for those who will come after she is gone."
Short version: Republican operative Lee Atwater taught Reagan, Gingrich et al how to dog whistle racism. See link below to Atwater's How to Be a Racist Without Sounding Like a Racist. It was the GOP lingua franca until spouting overt racism propelled Trump to the White House.
The Republican Southern Strategy - to take in disgruntled white supremacists - weaponized racism to drive a wedge in the Democratic working class base. As President Lyndon B. Johnson said "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
And indeed, Republicans convinced working class whites to give away their rights to organize, collective bargaining, fair wages, healthcare coverage, pensions - for the privilege of keeping their feet on the necks of their Black neighbors, in order to keep their own lily white empty heads above the roiling waters of intentional economic injustice.
See also Heather McGhee’s “The Sum of Us.” She tells this story and argues cogently that we need to move out of a zero-sum-game mentality. Some of her stories are jaw-dropping.
Interesting take on the matter MB. The smart bigots know that there is a substantial number of Whites who won't openly declare their racism but will look the other way, according to how it is handled.
"Let us remember: what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander." Eli Wiesel
And in a sense this is true. Oppressors rely on bystanders. Those who think they are keeping their hands clean by sitting on them, actually have blood on them. (Such as those who couldn't 'conscience' voting for Clinton helped elect Trump.)
Then there are the bystanders as BC comments who approve of the oppressors. The picnickers at a lynching.
Then the bystanders who knowingly assist the oppressors. Those who sell lynchers the rope but don't personally tie the noose. Hannah Arendt termed this "the banality of evil" - thoughtlessly advancing one's self interest with no concern for the harm one is doing to others.
Then the bystanders Wiesel writes of, who frozen with fear and at immediate risk to their lives can do nothing to help the victims.
And for those of us who can act, immediately and at a distance, another thing Wiesel says "We live in the age of communication. Write letters to the editor. Speak to your congressman, to your senator. If you are young, especially young people are taken by this human rights activities. They should organize the universities."
And if you can still walk, march for justice as fairness and run for office.
One of the success stories of the Civil Rights Movement was we quieted the voice of hate, but changed not the minds of those who hold fast to their beliefs. Or, maybe we taught a code of carefulness and thought we suceeded?
There is continuing dispute as to the initiation of 'the Reign of Terror' in France, which I assume you refer to. The word 'terror' was thrown about a bit over a period of time. The term Reign of Terror itself was applied by those who took power after Robespierre's death and in reaction to his extremism. Robespierre was from generations of well off lawyers. His reign was a result of conflict between factions within the revolution's political structure.
My sense is that the revolutions we commonly speak of, are rarely an 'up by your bootstraps' proposition by the oppressed masses. Their architects and leaders are from privileged groups with their own self interests in mind and/or empathetic ears to the ground.
The aristocrats who forced the Magna Carta on an English monarch and Oliver Cromwell of the landed gentry, who oversaw the beheading of another. America's Founding Fathers. Vladimir Lenin from an upper middle class family. Mao son of the wealthiest peasant in town (although himself a self made man.) Fidel and Che from upper middle class families as was the earlier Simon Bolivar. The Young Turks were privileged and more problematically affiliated with the party which carried out the Armenian Genocide, for which the term Holocaust was first applied. Iran. Al-Queda. Have I missed some? Probably.
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, of Haiti's slave rebellion, was a free man born in slavery - seems to be an exception.
Yes even sleeping while Black can incur a government enforced death sentence by bigots in blue.
And there in nothing vague about bigots on the judicial bench legitimizing racism.
There is nothing vague about racist right wing religious extremists - elevated and celebrated by the Republican party and Republican voters - weaponizing a badge or a black robe to deny Black people their civil rights and even their lives.
Red Hats are the new white hoods. Often on the same head.
"Clarence Thomas who seems to forget he’s a Black man."
Equality means equal to decide your political affiliations and self interests. And to reject stereotypical expectations.
But Thomas is a particularly twisted sister. A product of affirmative action from admission to prep school to admission to Yale Law school to appointment to the high bench, Thomas is set on pulling the ladder up after him.
This is a man whose take on Malcom X is "Where does he say black people should go begging the Labor Department for jobs?"
Thomas' ideas of Black separatism and self sufficiency have a Black history, but Thomas is peculiar in rejecting civil rights legislation. Thomas does not see the law as any means to mitigating racism. He believes in the imaginary of 'separate but equal' He calls civil rights legislation 'the new slavery emasculating Black men.'
Thomas is an apostle of the saving grace of unregulated greed in its avatar of commerce and capitalism.
And we know what he thinks of Black women.Thomas' sexist attitude toward Black women was shared by the male leaders of the Black Power movement. Until Thomas met right wing religious extremist loopy Ginni Lamp, he was vehemently and loudly opposed to interracial sex and marriage.
So not just Scalia's petulantly silent sock puppet any more. It is worth reading and listening to Thomas in his own voice to fully appreciate how deforming racism against Black people fueled by Republican cant can be.
Important reads about Clarence Thomas. He espouses Black separatism and decries affirmative action as racial paternalism, advocating Black ascendance through capitalism with separate but equal. Thomas overgeneralizes his short term perceptions of integration, fails to acknowledge the oppressions and abuses of unfettered capitalism/big business, and it's not clear how "equal" is to be attained without some measure of government oversight. But that racism is always present--with that I can agree. His contradictions regarding sex and sexism are a whole other story.
ThankYou. Admirable summary - as usual EK. Complete and enviably concise. Yes and sexism was not just in the Black Power movement but in the Anti Viet Nam War movement also.
Tonight I must join the chorus thanking you for one of the best "Letters" you have written. Why have I never seen or heard of Lincoln's philosophical arguments for equality? Something seriously lacking in my US History text and the way I was taught? -- I agree with those previous comments proclaiming Lincoln as our best President. He saved this nation. We can't begin to honor him enough.
Honest Abe is by far my favorite President. On the ever less frequent occasions when I can spend a few days in my hometown, Washington DC, I make a point of visiting the Lincoln Memorial and re-reading his second Inaugural Address. Reminds me of what a worthy endeavor our country is.
FDR. Not my favorite human. In many ways, despicable. But he was exactly what we needed at the time. And he was a wordsmith.
Truman - not a sophisticated intellect - but wicked smart with an amazing sense of ethics. More like this, please.
Jimmy Carter. But the nation didn't like what he asked of us. Why should we, in the land of plenty, make sacrifices for the greater good? Could be the finest human to have worked in the Oval Office. (And I eschew religion.)
I am not sure how Ted Kennedy plays into this other than his privilege and arrogance being in stark contrast to Carter's life. (I am from MA and probably voted for Teddy several times - based on his positions, especially his healthcare efforts).
The "malaise speech" was actually a big success and Carter was applauded by those who saw him as one who asked us to have values beyond materialism. That's my idea of principled courageous leadership. Political naivety? For sure.
Reagan was politically clever and successful but he was a monster who preached "meism" and taught us to abandon our brothers and sisters in trouble. Nancy's "Just Say to No to Drugs" led to the deaths of thousands.
Instead of embracing a sense of common goals and community, America resumed the race to consume as much as possible as fast as possible. I think the process of iphone purchasing - every new iteration of a device that could be serviceable for many years - adding to the huge pile of electronic waste we have no idea of how to dispose of - is a perfect example of our selfish, obsessive culture that Carter asked us to question.
Thanks, Bill. Our views of Carter depend on what we value. Americans seem to have little regard for their neighbors' welfare, individualism, "meism," gone awry, totally out of balance.
Beautiful essay on Lincoln and democracy, Heather. Guess I have to bring Abigail Adams into this and say "Remember the ladies" which was in a letter she wrote on March 31, 1776, to her husband. In response, John concludes his letter to Abigail's plea to 'Remember the Ladies. ' Although his tone is playful, John dismisses Abigail's request, saying, “I cannot but laugh,” and “you are so saucy.” I like to remind people that the opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy, it is egalitarianism. We the People, all of us this time! Please.
I opened a video production with that letter. The production celebrated the women who have worked tirelessly for the right to vote to encourage all women to vote in the last election.
Here is the video on Youtube: Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu8l_huH93c
Fabulous and a must see!
You are so kind.
I'm humbled beyond words.
Is the video viewable online? I'd like to see it!
I just saw this. And that you took the time to find it.... no words.
Gailee, thank you for sharing your video, a truly professional, meaningful and powerful story. Have you shared this to a wide audience? PBS? It’s among the best I have seen about women’s vote. Onward!
Agreed!!
Starting around the 6m20s mark - the car breaking sound and fast-rewind speaking…chillingly poignant, Gailee! Thank you for this powerful, short documentary. 💙
Thank you for your words.
I don't think it is professional enough. It is just my small effort.
IMHO your “small effort” far surpasses the usual messages we laypersons could produce and deserves wider distribution, notwithstanding your critical eye. For starters, the graphic that women in the West were ahead of the East in supporting women’s suffrage was news to me and had an impact. Thank you for doing this project.
Thank you for your words. Because I took photos from the internet, many were not in hi rez. Trying to get original photos is difficult. But. This is something that we, as women, can create for social media. It costs nothing, and many can be reached.
Good reminder. Thanks. I think I came across the exchange first in an autobiography of John Adam's a long time ago, the reading of it, that is. The marble rolling around in my mind since then has been a construct of deservedness of one over others, be is by gender or race or wealth possessed or salvation or some other artifice. The White man deserves because he is White. The smartest deserve because they are, well, the smartest. Man deserves because of some appendage joyfully appreciated by men. The saved are just special among themselves. This inherent deservedness because of some attribute as fundamental to the pursuit of and defense of inequality to the ends of time. The marble, in my ninth decade, now causes me to conclude that the search for domination always come back to inherent deservedness, not the examination of what is true or worthy or just amidst our species.
Here’s the rub, I think. Many humans do not accept original download from Creator. ‘We are all in this together. There is enough to go around.’
Greed and hierarchy and caste born in believing there is not enough to go around. And making it so by the hoarding and denying of resources.
You are wise, Fred, in your choice of words “inherent deservedness”. Our greatest gift after separation from Creator.
And President Lincoln had it exactly right about deservedness. And the diff between being ruled and governance. Aware and wise commentator Cathy Learoyd often says…We the People, All of Us This Time!
Yes, we keep playing a zero-sum game -- the OR game -- when we could be making bigger and more pies -- the AND game. I love how the Native Americans measure wealth by a person's generosity to others and seeing the entire community thrive.
I cannot remember the actual saying, but I used the concept during an interview for a position with a school district which was so polarized, it felt then much like this country feels today. It goes something like this: rather than draw a line in the sand, I will draw a circle around and enclosing all of us.
Well said. There is enough to go around ... especially when we share and first take only our share.
Here is Peggy McIntosh talking about social justice - privilege is above that line and things like suppression are below it. One point she makes is there is no need to be shamed by being white but instead use it to fight inequality. We need to teach all history but not take it out of the context of its time.
https://www.ted.com/talks/peggy_mcintosh_how_to_recognize_your_white_privilege_and_use_it_to_fight_inequality?language=en
https://nationalseedproject.org/images/documents/peggy/Peggy_McIntosh_White_People_Facing_Race.pdf
Thank you, Cathy for sharing Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege "list." I first studied it in a Master's Class, Social and Political Context in 2000. It helped me to more fully understand racially motivated bias and discrimination opposed to the antiSemitism I had experienced. I also started to teach through the lens of Anti-bias education starting in preschool through college and beyond, based on the work of Louise Dorman Sparks http://www.antibiasleadersece.com/louise-derman-sparks/. Anti-bias education should be the foundation of all levels of teaching from preschool through college. Especially if you're in a state that has laws against teaching TRUTH. Then you'll have to rename it and participate in the "Teaching as a Subversive Activity" model of education. (Neil Postman 1969)
Like Asimov's Foundation, where the "other end of the galaxy" is the center.
Thank you to Dr. Richardson for this beautiful and illuminating essay not only on the history of Lincoln but more importantly on the meaning and justification of the equality of all. I see one side of the political divide trying to make this same case for equality, kindness, and compassion for all, and another trying to make the case for societal divisions. It matters not what justification is used for such false divisions skin color, race, place of birth, language, religious beliefs or none, or who one loves - these are all false distinctions that only serve to ultimately imprison all of us in a discriminatory society. In such a society no one will be first all are by definition enslaved.
Either we are all free and equal or none are free and all are unequal. In such a system there will always be someone more powerful who enslaves others and bends them to their will.
I urge those who would advocate such a system and seek to wield such power that no condition is permanent. Those who would be masters and enslavers today may find themselves enslaved tomorrow.
Well said. It is the very last sentence in your comment that is surely being played out in the fear so many of us Whites harbor as the demographics of the nation shift away from that which safeguarded the deservedness of our caste.
Oy! I simple love the word ‘egalitarianism’ and what it represents and means. Thank you, Cathy! Salud.
Now then, the opposite of egalitarianism is elitism.
America's dominant patriarchal control of government's Ying/Yang system is the Great Deception where only 5% of the American electorate, (republicans), have devised a cunningly disguised "Right" to have their opinions dominate over the 95% of the others, (Democrats, Independents, et. al.). Republican heavily anointed mouths lie egalitarianism, while at every opportunity their little greasy open hands protect the 5% elitist's enrichment.
And:
Since it seems that for the last couple of hundred years American government has failed in many ways even today under the top heavy control of patriarchy's deception that the top down benevolence "showered" upon the other 95% has been revealed repeatedly to be total BS.
And:
Since the voice of republicans at every level of American governance is obviously dominated by its patriarchal control disguised as their faux-egalitarian interpretation of The Constitution which, instead has repeatedly proven to be in actuality Elitism's deceptive transformation of America's Democracy.
Now, Therefore:
It is now our hope and prayer that this November 2022, and thereafter forevermore the decidedly rewarding emergence of the much more adept Democratic matriarchal forces of governance will begin their overdue extermination of those lying republican elitist who have sought the destruction of America's egalitarian Democracy.
VOTE INTELLIGENTLY!
Yes George. To will among the 95% would you conclude that we must convince a large proportion that is not their meager cup that will be take from them should the elite not survive a fair election?
NO Fred.
Absolutely NOT Fred.
That 95%, which you seem to feel estranged from, will hopefully clearly vote their opinion in November guided by fact, as opposed to the deceitful lies amplified by bigoted old fat moneyed white men's control of the RP.
Now Fred, by your oxymoronic linkage of fair with elite, you seem to be one of those who refuse to acknowledge the reality that this last election was the most fair election in the history of American democracy...
One wonders, Fred, what good you hope to gain by attempting to promote the lie of deception's willful destruction of American Democracy by the republicans???
Clearly we have not understood the other's point. I thought I understood yours leading up to your conclusion to vote intelligently. I shared with my son the other day that I have become any angry White man, angry at how my fellow White people follow and swallow the lies promoted by the right to protect them from the left stealing their deserved though meager tin cup when in fact the policies and goals of my progressive peers are to ensure sustenance is served daily to the 99% who might vote for our candidates. The word will was supposed to be what in my question to you. Editing and spellchecker are the two banes or my writing in streams of intended wit. Happy Valentines Day, George.
I see Fred...typos do confuse...and a lovely Saint Valentine's Day to you and all of your loved ones.
Agreed.
Excellent add to Dr. Richardson's amazing essay.
If Abe’s wife were as outstanding as Abigail Adams, he might have been inclined to “Remember the Ladies.” Instead, Mary Lincoln was a cantankerous, dour lady who spent like a drunken sailor to Abe’s personal and political embarrassment. She may be the reason that I cannot recall a single photo of Abe in which he was smiling.
Hiya, dear Not-Doc Wheelock!
In my limited knowledge:
Mary Todd was long a tortured soul, (plagued by mental health maladies that money didn’t solve). Additionally, she suffered so much loss within her immediate family. What I’ve read has left me thinking her a staunch supporter of her husband during his presidential tenure.
Broken people often break things and others. 🤷🏼♀️
Ashley I agree that Mary Todd Lincoln ‘was long a tortured soul.’ That does not obviate that, according to Doris Kearns Goodwin, she was a pain in the butt to President Lincoln, who was dealing with monumental matters.
Monumental pain in the toosh — I’ll definitely defer to you, Prof, and the uber legitimate scholar Doris KG!!
Yup.
Thank you!
Love Mark Twain’s thought on the subject. “The easy confidence with which I know another man’s religion is folly teaches me to suspect that my own is also.” Started questioning, but didn’t land on Qanon, thank whatever God
I'm struck by a contrast in this illuminating commentary about equality and race: how openly the enslavers of Lincoln's day articulated their views about white supremacy compared to today's bigots. Now they communicate their bigotry via a veiled language of hints and vague innuendo. And by silently flashing white-power hand signals while smiling broadly, as if to say, "I'm declaring my racism oh so cleverly without saying a word." Of course there are slip-ups when they're caught in recordings using the N-word and other racial slurs. When confronted later they invariably knit their brows in faux distress and issue apologies everyone knows are insincere.
Trump summoned these cowards from the shadows. They attract like-minded people with whom they can share their hatred of others as long as none of those damn liberals are in earshot. You can be sure they'll never express and explain their bigotry publicly because they fear the harsh backlash that would follow. Or in unusual displays of "courage" they'll march around in matching polo shirts and khaki pants which fit much better than white hoods and sheets. But they're still cowards.
It's too bad they will never find themselves shipwrecked on the African coast and enslaved by dark-skinned people and, hopefully, have an epiphany.
No need to find an epiphany or two by being shipwrecked and enslaved. White people can work through Layla Saad's 28 questions to examine our individual participation in white privilege and the social institution of white supremacy. As one person doing the workbook, "Me and White Supremacy" wrote, "My sister asked 'haha what are you writing, how you participate in white supremacy?' as if it was a joke that I could ever be part of that system and I was like 'yes examining your participation in white supremacy is exactly the point' and she was like 'oh.'"
We have a mandate to walk the talk that all humans are created equal. If we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.
https://www.meandwhitesupremacybook.com/
Layla Saad is a stunning woman in every way.
Thanks for that reference, I checked and see it is easily available among other suppliers: Amazon, I'll definitely get it.
Please consider supporting your local bookseller. They need our money more than Bezos. When you click over to the website, select ‘Indibound’ to see a list of booksellers in your area who carry this important work.
Good point. This is a great way to buy local: https://bookshop.org/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkp75h-f89QIVdRvUAR1KQgFhEAAYASAAEgKubfD_BwE
Thank you for the link. I will start using it and spread the word.
Thank you.
Agree. I never help Amazon if I can help it and I never buy books there. We have Powell's here in Oregon and that's where I usually get my books. I finally finished my Christmas books this week.
Powell’s is my all time favorite indie bookstore. If I can’t get what I want there, I order from Bookshop.org.
McLovin, I verbally 'heart' you. While others burn books, we can be supporting local booksellers.
The local book store in Austin, the Book People, even had Ruth Bader Ginsberg socks last summer - meaning not to be facetious, but just saying...
Excellent point!
Good idea! Thanks.
Which website are you referring to?
https://www.indiebound.org/search/book?keys=me+and+white+supremacy
YesYesYes. I mourn the loss of some of my favorites every where I have lived back in the U.S. Especially Santa Monica, CA. . Anyone living in Houston, TX, this was my sanctuary. https://www.brazosbookstore.com/ I'm so blessed that Donosti Librería is across the street from me. It was begun by a couple while Franco was in power. Now run by the sons. They speak no English but have shelves chock a block full of literature in Spanish, English, Portuguese, y poco Russian and will order whatever is wished for.
My local bookstore will order most any title I request if they do not have it in stock. May I also suggest using your public library (not useful for a workbook, I understand), that community center of ‘socialism’.
Yes! Thank you.
I go to the Amazon website to get information, such as ISBN numbers, about books that I want to buy, then order from my local bookstore.
The meandwhitesupremacybook link is to purchase directly from the author.
Thank You Ellie!
"Layla is an East African, Arab, British, Black, Muslim woman who was born and grew up in the West, and lives in Middle East. Layla has always sat at a unique intersection of identities from which she is able to draw rich and intriguing perspectives. Her work is driven by her powerful desire to become a good ancestor; to live and work in ways that leave a legacy of healing and liberation for those who will come after she is gone."
I will order it. Thank you.
Short version: Republican operative Lee Atwater taught Reagan, Gingrich et al how to dog whistle racism. See link below to Atwater's How to Be a Racist Without Sounding Like a Racist. It was the GOP lingua franca until spouting overt racism propelled Trump to the White House.
The Republican Southern Strategy - to take in disgruntled white supremacists - weaponized racism to drive a wedge in the Democratic working class base. As President Lyndon B. Johnson said "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
And indeed, Republicans convinced working class whites to give away their rights to organize, collective bargaining, fair wages, healthcare coverage, pensions - for the privilege of keeping their feet on the necks of their Black neighbors, in order to keep their own lily white empty heads above the roiling waters of intentional economic injustice.
https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/exclusive-lee-atwaters-infamous-1981-interview-southern-strategy/
See also Heather McGhee’s “The Sum of Us.” She tells this story and argues cogently that we need to move out of a zero-sum-game mentality. Some of her stories are jaw-dropping.
Yes! ThankYou.
Hear Heather McGhee, on several CSpan episodes, including a BookTalk on The Sum of Us:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?516936-3/washington-journal-heather-mcghee-discusses-book-the-sum-us
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heather_McGhee
Thank you!
She used to appear frequently on MSNBC but no more, alas. Hers is a wise voice.
I have this book. Agree on the move.
Thank you!
Thank you again, Lin for your additional info today!
I will share your work, if you don't mind.
Steal this book. Public domain.
Excellent - Thanks, lin.
lin.
Great link. Thanks.
You are a fount.
Lin, amazing comment, amazing link.
Interesting take on the matter MB. The smart bigots know that there is a substantial number of Whites who won't openly declare their racism but will look the other way, according to how it is handled.
"Let us remember: what hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander." Eli Wiesel
And in a sense this is true. Oppressors rely on bystanders. Those who think they are keeping their hands clean by sitting on them, actually have blood on them. (Such as those who couldn't 'conscience' voting for Clinton helped elect Trump.)
Then there are the bystanders as BC comments who approve of the oppressors. The picnickers at a lynching.
Then the bystanders who knowingly assist the oppressors. Those who sell lynchers the rope but don't personally tie the noose. Hannah Arendt termed this "the banality of evil" - thoughtlessly advancing one's self interest with no concern for the harm one is doing to others.
Then the bystanders Wiesel writes of, who frozen with fear and at immediate risk to their lives can do nothing to help the victims.
And for those of us who can act, immediately and at a distance, another thing Wiesel says "We live in the age of communication. Write letters to the editor. Speak to your congressman, to your senator. If you are young, especially young people are taken by this human rights activities. They should organize the universities."
And if you can still walk, march for justice as fairness and run for office.
Some akin to “I’m not a racist, but…”
One of the success stories of the Civil Rights Movement was we quieted the voice of hate, but changed not the minds of those who hold fast to their beliefs. Or, maybe we taught a code of carefulness and thought we suceeded?
Well said!
Brilliant closing sentence!
Oppression doesn't just 'happen.' It takes a lot of work by the oppressors and a lot of nothing by everyone else.
"The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."
- William Butler Yeats
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43290/the-second-coming
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
(Edmund Burke, 18th Century)
There is continuing dispute as to the initiation of 'the Reign of Terror' in France, which I assume you refer to. The word 'terror' was thrown about a bit over a period of time. The term Reign of Terror itself was applied by those who took power after Robespierre's death and in reaction to his extremism. Robespierre was from generations of well off lawyers. His reign was a result of conflict between factions within the revolution's political structure.
My sense is that the revolutions we commonly speak of, are rarely an 'up by your bootstraps' proposition by the oppressed masses. Their architects and leaders are from privileged groups with their own self interests in mind and/or empathetic ears to the ground.
The aristocrats who forced the Magna Carta on an English monarch and Oliver Cromwell of the landed gentry, who oversaw the beheading of another. America's Founding Fathers. Vladimir Lenin from an upper middle class family. Mao son of the wealthiest peasant in town (although himself a self made man.) Fidel and Che from upper middle class families as was the earlier Simon Bolivar. The Young Turks were privileged and more problematically affiliated with the party which carried out the Armenian Genocide, for which the term Holocaust was first applied. Iran. Al-Queda. Have I missed some? Probably.
François-Dominique Toussaint Louverture, of Haiti's slave rebellion, was a free man born in slavery - seems to be an exception.
Yes even sleeping while Black can incur a government enforced death sentence by bigots in blue.
And there in nothing vague about bigots on the judicial bench legitimizing racism.
There is nothing vague about racist right wing religious extremists - elevated and celebrated by the Republican party and Republican voters - weaponizing a badge or a black robe to deny Black people their civil rights and even their lives.
Red Hats are the new white hoods. Often on the same head.
"Clarence Thomas who seems to forget he’s a Black man."
Equality means equal to decide your political affiliations and self interests. And to reject stereotypical expectations.
But Thomas is a particularly twisted sister. A product of affirmative action from admission to prep school to admission to Yale Law school to appointment to the high bench, Thomas is set on pulling the ladder up after him.
This is a man whose take on Malcom X is "Where does he say black people should go begging the Labor Department for jobs?"
Thomas' ideas of Black separatism and self sufficiency have a Black history, but Thomas is peculiar in rejecting civil rights legislation. Thomas does not see the law as any means to mitigating racism. He believes in the imaginary of 'separate but equal' He calls civil rights legislation 'the new slavery emasculating Black men.'
Thomas is an apostle of the saving grace of unregulated greed in its avatar of commerce and capitalism.
And we know what he thinks of Black women.Thomas' sexist attitude toward Black women was shared by the male leaders of the Black Power movement. Until Thomas met right wing religious extremist loopy Ginni Lamp, he was vehemently and loudly opposed to interracial sex and marriage.
So not just Scalia's petulantly silent sock puppet any more. It is worth reading and listening to Thomas in his own voice to fully appreciate how deforming racism against Black people fueled by Republican cant can be.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/books/review/the-enigma-of-clarence-thomas-corey-robin.html
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/essay/clarence-thomass-radical-vision-of-race
Important reads about Clarence Thomas. He espouses Black separatism and decries affirmative action as racial paternalism, advocating Black ascendance through capitalism with separate but equal. Thomas overgeneralizes his short term perceptions of integration, fails to acknowledge the oppressions and abuses of unfettered capitalism/big business, and it's not clear how "equal" is to be attained without some measure of government oversight. But that racism is always present--with that I can agree. His contradictions regarding sex and sexism are a whole other story.
ThankYou. Admirable summary - as usual EK. Complete and enviably concise. Yes and sexism was not just in the Black Power movement but in the Anti Viet Nam War movement also.
Yes. Exactly. Perfect example.
Tonight I must join the chorus thanking you for one of the best "Letters" you have written. Why have I never seen or heard of Lincoln's philosophical arguments for equality? Something seriously lacking in my US History text and the way I was taught? -- I agree with those previous comments proclaiming Lincoln as our best President. He saved this nation. We can't begin to honor him enough.
Honest Abe is by far my favorite President. On the ever less frequent occasions when I can spend a few days in my hometown, Washington DC, I make a point of visiting the Lincoln Memorial and re-reading his second Inaugural Address. Reminds me of what a worthy endeavor our country is.
Not too many of his successors have had that capacity for fundamental thought and his ability to explain, inspire and lead by his seeming simplicity.
FDR. Not my favorite human. In many ways, despicable. But he was exactly what we needed at the time. And he was a wordsmith.
Truman - not a sophisticated intellect - but wicked smart with an amazing sense of ethics. More like this, please.
Jimmy Carter. But the nation didn't like what he asked of us. Why should we, in the land of plenty, make sacrifices for the greater good? Could be the finest human to have worked in the Oval Office. (And I eschew religion.)
Bill. Carter, while a decent man, was an awful leader. Reread the malaise speech and Ted Kennedy’s biography if you did not live it yourself.
I respectfully disagree. I lived it.
I am not sure how Ted Kennedy plays into this other than his privilege and arrogance being in stark contrast to Carter's life. (I am from MA and probably voted for Teddy several times - based on his positions, especially his healthcare efforts).
The "malaise speech" was actually a big success and Carter was applauded by those who saw him as one who asked us to have values beyond materialism. That's my idea of principled courageous leadership. Political naivety? For sure.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/10/jimmy-carter-energy-crisis-malaise-speech-biden-supply-chain.html
Reagan was politically clever and successful but he was a monster who preached "meism" and taught us to abandon our brothers and sisters in trouble. Nancy's "Just Say to No to Drugs" led to the deaths of thousands.
Instead of embracing a sense of common goals and community, America resumed the race to consume as much as possible as fast as possible. I think the process of iphone purchasing - every new iteration of a device that could be serviceable for many years - adding to the huge pile of electronic waste we have no idea of how to dispose of - is a perfect example of our selfish, obsessive culture that Carter asked us to question.
Thanks, Bill. Our views of Carter depend on what we value. Americans seem to have little regard for their neighbors' welfare, individualism, "meism," gone awry, totally out of balance.