Friday, May 23, 2014

in 15,000 words, ta-nehisi coates demolishes nicholas wade...,


theatlantic |  The politics of racial evasion are seductive. But the record is mixed. Aid to Families With Dependent Children was originally written largely to exclude blacks—yet by the 1990s it was perceived as a giveaway to blacks. The Affordable Care Act makes no mention of race, but this did not keep Rush Limbaugh from denouncing it as reparations. Moreover, the act’s expansion of Medicaid was effectively made optional, meaning that many poor blacks in the former Confederate states do not benefit from it. The Affordable Care Act, like Social Security, will eventually expand its reach to those left out; in the meantime, black people will be injured.

“All that it would take to sink a new WPA program would be some skillfully packaged footage of black men leaning on shovels smoking cigarettes,” the sociologist Douglas S. Massey writes. “Papering over the issue of race makes for bad social theory, bad research, and bad public policy.” To ignore the fact that one of the oldest republics in the world was erected on a foundation of white supremacy, to pretend that the problems of a dual society are the same as the problems of unregulated capitalism, is to cover the sin of national plunder with the sin of national lying. The lie ignores the fact that reducing American poverty and ending white supremacy are not the same. The lie ignores the fact that closing the “achievement gap” will do nothing to close the “injury gap,” in which black college graduates still suffer higher unemployment rates than white college graduates, and black job applicants without criminal records enjoy roughly the same chance of getting hired as white applicants with criminal records.

37 comments:

BigDonOne said...

(Wade) Journalism is.....

CNu said...

(Wade) Propaganda is....

BigDonOne said...

(BigDon) Reality is...

Ed Dunn said...

I doubt the Democrats were "surprised" or "shocked" just saying...

Makheru Bradley said...

“The idea of reparations is frightening not simply because we might lack the ability to pay. The idea of reparations threatens something much deeper—America’s heritage, history, and standing in the world.” -- Coates

The United States of America is constructed on a foundation of theft and crimes against humanity. The mere thought of recognizing that history is psychologically traumatizing to the average American, thus they will remain in deep denial until something even more traumatizing jolts them to the reality that these sins will be paid for, one way or another.

“Black nationalists have always perceived something unmentionable about America that integrationists dare not acknowledge—that white supremacy is not merely the work of hotheaded demagogues, or a matter of false consciousness, but a force so fundamental to America that it is difficult to imagine the country without it.” -- Coates

As we’ve been saying for years white supremacy is functional because it operates through institutions--the corporatocracy, it’s governmental representatives, education, and culture.

“The most common mistake people make when they talk about racism is to think it is a collection of prejudices and individual acts of discrimination. They do not see that it is a system, a web of interlocking, reinforcing institutions: economic, military, legal, educational, religious, and cultural. As a system, racism affects every aspect of life in a country. By not seeing that racism is systemic (part of a system), people often personalize or individualize racist acts. The need to recognize racism as being systemic is one reason the term White Supremacy has been more useful than the term racism.” – Dr. Elizabeth Martinez

CNu said...

Then you better put the Wade pipe down and go read the case for reparations carefully from end-to-end....,

CNu said...

Look man, the CBC already met with Paul Ryan about his offensive "urban lazy" comments..., as far as starving tender young black children, they don't need to be fed, they're food. You'll note also that the NAACP, the Urban League, Tavis, Cornel, Rev. Al, MHP, et al - quiet as a church mouse on substantive political matters....,

CNu said...

Hard and unforgiving as I tend to be, I give credit where credit is due. Coates brought his analytic and synthetic exposition A-Game to this task and accomplished something that generations of "scholars" and activists have not managed to accomplish. He presented a succinct, fact-based, and largely unemotional case for why it's due, and, what it means that this country can't man up enough to even just study the issue.

He used his platform exceptionally well, knocking down many birds with one well-polished and precisely placed stone. For me personally, the timing couldn't have been better as my man John noted at the outset of this thread, he's underscored in very glaring - and again quite unemotional terms - the historical process of sabotage and redistribution.

At this point, I'm just a little surprised that The Atlantic published the piece, and very well pleased that they gave it its due as the anchor to the issue.

BigDonOne said...

Read part of the Coates...
Let's say you give each African-American a million dollars by Obama Executive Order. Would that make you happy? What do you think would happen? Actually, it would be amusing to watch because we already know. http://www.munknee.com/78-of-nfl-players-go-bankrupt-within-5-years/ Most of the NBA NFL types end up in financial trouble as soon as the money stops, which for *Reparations* would be one day later. How much of that money would go into educating themselves, their kids, and into blue chip investments and trust funds? Perhaps 5%, and that's being generous.



The problems would absolutely not be fixed. BD is sorry, CNu, but most of that would go into useless bling, up their noses, into their arms, and end up in the cash vaults of the druglords. Black-on-black crime would skyrocket, junkyards would be filled with bullet-riddled Escalades. The mother of all Chicago on steroids. It would be much worse than when whites were doing the ripping-off. And society would fairly rapidly regress back to the *genetic* natural order of things we see today....

CNu said...

Read part of the Coates...

Because you're utterly incapable of handling the truth. As for the rest;

http://youtu.be/L0L5fciA6AU

Makheru Bradley said...

McWhorter's response; http://thebea.st/1meUbJI

ken said...

"What a load of horse shit! That just-so story has been thoroughly repudiated, not only by Bichler and Nitzen, but in case you haven't been paying attention, by the thousand or so academic economists comprising the real world economics review.

My, my, Vic this isn't like you to even answer or make arguments when you have such a wide
consensus that confirms your point, usually this would be "not open for argument at this time". What's different here when this point of view "is one of the cheekiest things I've read out of you thus far "? You would think this opinion would have compelled you even less to respond than all the other majority consensus point of views you embrace that are "not up for debate at this time".

"Pretending that CNu's viewpoint is somehow juvenile, naive, or heaven forbid communist."

There is nothing wrong with believing a communist economic system is better than a capitalist system. If everyone is striving for the same goal and are in agreement and will all put forth an honest effort in attaining whatever the community goals are for the good of the community, the communist system is
superior to a system of mutual benefit and making decisions based upon personal interests system. For instance this was a communist community:

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A+32-36&version=NKJV

As for what you posted: "the main weapon in this struggle, we claim, is not investment and growth, but what the American political economist Thorstein Veblen called ‘strategic sabotage’ – the restrictions, limitations, hazards and pains that capitalists impose on the rest of society in order to sustain and augment their differential power."

We don't know how one sabotages, we just are told they do. We know they are because the saboteurs are getting exactly what they want. If I could be so bold as to submit something to you
"elders" you might consider the only one applying restrictions that end up favoring capitalist with deep pockets is the government. Government imposes regulations across the board that take a smaller percentage out of wealthy companies and cause smaller capitalist to either have to quit the business
or stop expansion because of the cost. This in essence has government sabotaging any competition of rich capitalist and creating more power and monopoly for the wealthy corporations. In the end all you have left is wealthy corporations giving a percentage of their earnings to the government to
distribute to those who have been sidelined. Corporate and government power is decreased when costly business regulations are removed.

Another great quote: "There was no point banging our heads against the wall. It was time to head elsewhere. And since salvation always comes from the East"

Are we talking strictly about who finally accepted this crap? Or is the East going to save us
from our the ones who keep sabotaging us?

BigDonOne said...

Oh, dude like YouTube...!!

BD will see your James Baldwin and raise you this definitive cultural statement, it gets really profound about 1:00 into the video..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_ehXjZ_2D4

Tom said...

Wow, Dude really ate his Wheaties today.

CNu said...

No BD. Elevate your game or shuffle on down the road.

CNu said...

cocked-up little git = priceless.comedy.gold....,

Dale Asberry said...

Really, what is it with not "know(ing) who your elders and betters are, and conduct(ing) yourself accordingly" in current society? Isn't that the basis of the whole Republican party losing it's mind nowadays? (Not that they weren't on shaky ground to begin with...)

CNu said...

I will never cease to be amazed at the tortious post-hoc justifications Ken was capable of swallowing and repeating ad nauseum on behalf of the invasion of Iraq. Or related, that the predatory militarism of the Cheney administration was about increasing "freedom". Now it's down to the oligarchs serving humanity via a system of mutual benefit and making decisions based upon personal interests system - which in order to function correctly - assumes equitable access to information and understanding - neither of which condition has ever existed in the real world.

Tom said...

The normal old-fashioned Republicans kind of did. They were bad guys to their opponents (though they never killed anywhere near as many folks as the Democrats did), they were far from Christian in their behavior, but they weren't complete Caligula-style hellspawn.


These new lunatics are. They don't care what happens to anybody, including themselves. The only thing that matters to these new freaks is the simple equation, Ideology = Truth.

Dale Asberry said...

I think CNu is on to something about going medieval sword-play on them... although I think all that many of them need is a good, simple beat down.

Tom said...

Ideology = Truth


Same deal as the commies. That didn't end well, but hope springs eternal.

ken said...

yah I saw that, sorry, about that. I noticed the name later.

ken said...

"You really don't know how the sabotage is going down? During the talk, they assumed everyone listening knew who fucked up. But if you're too lazy to listen carefully, there are other things that'll pique your interest. This is big boy shit right here."


The big boy question this guy is trying to answer is, how come we don't have the growth we normally have from all the other recessions? And he is trying to direct us away from policy decisions and present the idea that the wealthy capitalist are so far into the power and control, they are continually sabotaging other groups even at the expense of wealth for themselves. The question wasn't about how did the crisis happen, but instead why haven't we grown out of it like we have with all the other crisis. It isn't explained how these powerful capitalist have sabotaged the recovery or growth.


And someone as you call it "fucking up" isn't deliberate sabotage. So clearly even your interpretation of what you think everybody knows he is talking about, really isn't that clear to a big boy like you.

Vic78 said...

Does he get tired of being a bitch? It never fails. Someone writes something about race and McWhorter's there to run interference. Why not just leave shit alone at times? It would be different if he was going after bigots but he won't go after the hands feeding him. But I understand, if he didn't do what he was doing he'd be just another obscure college professor. The Black Conservative pig trough overflows. There are more dignified ways to that paper. He could be a professional gimp. He could steal the copper from abandoned houses. There's still money in being a wack ass rapper.

Michael Varian Daly said...

The Rulers laugh as The Lower Orders fight over scraps from The Ruler's table.

woodensplinter said...

And the main weapon in this struggle, we claim, is not investment and growth, but what the American political economist Thorstein Veblen called ‘strategic sabotage’ – the restrictions, limitations, hazards and pains that capitalists impose on the rest of society in order to sustain and augment their differential power.

woodensplinter said...

Good morning git. Why so quiet on the reparations, no potatoes, and Broad Academy threads - just to mention a recent few?

ken said...

I really don't have anything to say in defense of past theft of Black families savings and inheritance. In fact it's a place I think there is good argument. I was looking for something that would illustrate my point of view:

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/27/news/economy/wealth-whites-blacks/

What jumps out at me is the family support supplied through accumulated wealth that whites have compared to blacks.

"because whites are more likely to have family financial assistance for down payments, they are able to buy homes an average of eight years earlier than black families and to put down larger upfront payments that lower interest rates and mortgage costs....

"Whites are typically able to put more of their raises towards accumulating wealth because they've already built up a cash cushion. Blacks are more likely to use the money to cover emergencies.----I suspect this also is because if you have a tight cash problem, the white's mom and dad have accumulated wealth ready to help, why statistically not the case for black's mom and dad.

And this is the one I think there might be a chance to argue further: "Inheritances also make it easier for some families to build wealth. Among the families studied, whites were five times more likely to inherit money than blacks, and their typical inheritances were 10 times as big."



It would be logical to understand a factor to the wide difference in inheritances is because the black family's inheritance was taken, no inheritance as a slave and stolen lots of times in Jim Crow, and reduced because of past unfair employment and wage payments all caused Black families the inability to have an inheritance for future generations while whites did.


I think along these lines there is a strong argument, what the formula would be, how it would be paid, and who would be paid, pretty tough stuff to figure out. Like everybody else who receives inheritance if something would be worked out, I should hope it would be handed over to the individuals without government strings attached. That it would be money to be used in any legal way the recipient chooses.

CNu said...

lol, I don't believe John expected you to have anything approaching an argument in support of your point of view. What instead was expected, was a baseline understanding of American history sufficient to appreciate the longstanding(perennial) and overwhelming evidence in support of Bichler and Nitzen's POV - without it having to be explicitly called out to you.

Typically, one it's unnecessary to make the argument that "water is wet" when one's counterpart in the argument is married to a mermaid....,

ken said...

I am sorry, I don't see Bichler and Nitzen making connection to American slavery in their organizing of their theory. I see them talk about typical master slave and the serf slave dynamic but not American slavery. I am betting this book here is a pretty extensive explanation of their theory:

http://dieoff.org/_Economics/Nitzan%20and%20Bichler%20-%20Capital%20As%20Power.pdf

Vic78 said...

You're to the left of the Democratic Party.

ken said...

Just so you all know what the sabotage is:

"And so the circle closes and sabotage becomes invisible. The vast majority of modern capitalists (or their managers) are ‘price makers’: they fix the price of their product and then let ‘market forces’ do the rest for them. To the naked eye they all seem keen on producing and selling as much as possible, but beyond the facade the picture is very different. The specific level at which they set the price already embodies the power to incapacitate. On the one hand, the profit target and markup built into the price reflect the firm’s power, while, on the other hand, that power, exercised by the high price, serves to restrict industry below its full capacity. The sabotage and the power to inflict it remain concealed, but their consequences are very real."

---Yep, if they have a big enough monopoly they can set the price and by not producing at maximum levels this becomes a way of keeping demand up and keeping the price up and maximizing profits. Pretty straight forward. Of course if they end up not having a monopoly, then they lose the power to dictate price and demand.

Here's another sabotage: "Mining output, much like any other output, is controlled by business. The actual production of a single firm and the number firms in operation therefore are bounded not by the state of industrial arts, but by what can be sold at a 'reasonable' profit. In fact, this is exactly what standard neoclassical manuals tell the owner of a perfectly competitive firm: in the long-run, have your company produce only if you expect to earn at least the normal rate of return. Otherwise, shut down."

--Yep, true, if you can't sell it at a reasonable profit, it is not very smart to keep paying to produce it.


Just to make sure I have the jest of what sabotage is according to this guy:


Business, like other power institutions throughout history, can force people to act, but it cannot make them productive, Moreover, productivity as such, being socially hologramic and therefore open and unrestricted, cannot generate a profit. The only way for capitalist to profit from productivity is by subjugating and limiting it. And since business earnings hinge on strategic sabotage, their capitalization represents nothing but incapacitation. In this particular sense, capital by its very construction, is negative industrial magintude.



--I might also suggest, creating a desire for whatever the product is and selling it above the cost you manufactured it for, or the cost it takes you to present it and purchase it if you are a merchandiser.


This all very basis supply and demand market stuff. I don't get why my very first post, about government raising cost and risk to capitalist will cause capitalist to contemplate if they can afford the risk of growth. They will try to hang on to the power (or money they have) instead of possibly losing it. And government is the one who swallows up the power by causing business to remain idle as it analyzes if it can afford to expand in this culture.

CNu said...

lol, yes, I'm going to have to agree that anyone incapable of seeing the obvious fact that American history exemplifies Bichler and Nitzen's account of capitalism, rather than the rational utility fairy tale - is very sorry indeed.

Constructive_Feedback said...

Brother CNu:

My first post was lost because my machine (which I record television shows upon) ran out of memory and I was forced to reboot.

This was for the better because THIS BLOG POST more clearly argues my point against Ta-Nehisi Coates' arguments:

http://withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-real-reparations-turn-10-trillion.html



I am no longer going for INDUCEMENTS about THE FUTURE GAINS.
The Americanized Negro of 40 million needs to ONLY buy into schemes that will provide tangible uplift through ORGANIC COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT.

Vic78 said...

The simplest breakdown of the master/slave dynamic:
http://youtu.be/D0qKDiq1fNw
http://youtu.be/0HsXAIzYklk

Constructive_Feedback said...

[quote]The United States of America is constructed on a foundation of theft and crimes against humanity.[/quote]

WHY THEN WOULD YOU WANT SUCH A "SERIAL KILLER" TO BE YOUR "SINGLE PAYER SOCIAL JUSTICE PROVIDER"?

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gyXZtFvIrN8/UnqhWL0hFxI/AAAAAAAAzgE/C3_9CfkOdnY/s1600/Single+Payer+Serial+Killer.png

http://www.blackagendareport.com/sites/www.blackagendareport.com/files/imagecache/feature400/MedicareForAll_0.jpg

Vic78 said...

Being against the left's sorry assedness isn't good enough. McWorter's playing games. Then again, that's his job when it comes to Black issues. He is not credible opposition.
This http://www.newrepublic.com/article/politics/taking-out-my-eraser is enough right here to dismiss him as a hack.

Master Arbitrageur Nancy Pelosi Is At It Again....,

🇺🇸TUCKER: HOW DID NANCY PELOSI GET SO RICH? Tucker: "I have no clue at all how Nancy Pelosi is just so rich or how her stock picks ar...