July 18
I am torn about what needs to happen if we are ever to achieve racial and social justice. Is it our military empire and economic system of exploitation that has to be changed? Or should a progressive movement bring us incrementally closer to our goal of justice for Blacks and other oppressed minorities?
The interview with Jessicah Pierre was in some ways influenced by my own search for a way out of militarism, colonialism and "savage" capitalism. The closest other societies have come to a perfect system can be seen in the Scandinavian democracies. Not perfect, but these countries do offer a tolerable mix of economic freedom and social responsibility.
Or maybe the perfect system can be seen in countries that our gigantic military machine tries to destroy, like Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. Maybe capitalism itself is the enemy, since it encourages selfishness, ruthlessness and exploitation.
Jessicah Pierre wanted to talk about concrete steps to diminish the gross unfairness of our economic system, especially when it comes to minorities. Part of this effort involves creating an awareness of white history in the "land of the free." Maybe we can't really go anywhere unless we understand the history of slavery and Jim Crow. Or the ethnic cleansing of native Americans and the slow genocide of their reservations. Maybe we are still on the first step, understanding how we got here. The racist brew that Trump stirs up for his own political power has been there for the last several centuries. It is in our DNA as much as it is in his. Perhaps a new world can only begin when we acknowledge the devil's bargain that has always been part of America's Manifest Destiny.
