This author reflects a deeply nuanced view of the tension here in the US over anti-racism ideology popularized by Ibram X Kendi and others and the forthright work of Coleman Hughes. My own proclivities are with Hughes, but I see from this reading why I struggle with articulating this stand, knowing I cannot yet determine exactly where to place myself except with like-minded others.
I really enjoyed this piece! You are right at the philosophical level (of course you know it), but you are especially a very good writer, and therefore make complicated ideas easy to understand without losing the esthetic quality of a good narrative. I am so grateful you decided to put this gift to work by delving into such important issues!
Best opinion piece I've read on race in years. Nuanced, substanitiated, and clear. Thank you very much for articulating the words and ideas I've cast about to say.
I think the impetus behind the racialization of things is the ultimate desire to have a society that IS absent of the divisive/power struggle role race plays today. It sounds counterintuitive, but I feel like certain people of color find that it is necessary to bring attention to race in many situations due to the lack of awareness they’re perceiving white folk are having when going about things, so that the tacit unfairness towards a group of people based on race can be recognized and eradicated according to logical, wholistic reasoning. Like your example of “black Irish” versus “Nigerian Irish”. Obviously the goal is to have race no longer play much of a role in inter-human dealings, but if race continues to manifest as a factor in the dealings of those who claim to not use race as a factor, then race should be brought up to reveal what tacit leanings might still be affecting these “race neutral” arenas. And it will continue to be brought up as long as inequality emerges along racial lines, despite what is officially said or written in policy.
Anybody who has the slightest understanding of Irish history understands the complexity of whiteness, the numerous variables in power differences, and its clear analogue for all people worldwide in understanding the many varieties of difference in all regions: Asian, Arab, African, Latino, indigenous (anywhere) and on an on....everywhere.
This is a fantastic argument. Great piece.
This Race-ist thinking on the Left derived from Fanon, Kendi, Said and that dope who wrote White Privilege, is causing us to fall apart as a society in the US, is splintering the West, the only place that even cares about such issues, and is the most simplistic, facile, linear and ahistorical worldview since well, Social Darwinism. Oh the irony.
“What could my identifying as black possibly tell you about me?” This FLOORS me in its simplicity. When people ask what I do for a living, my question is always “will it tell you how much respect I’m worthy of?” We chuckle and I answer but no, really…
This is a really good essay and I appreciate it a lot. There's only one thing I disagree with and it ain't even in the essay itself. It's in the author bio at the end where you mentioned Ireland's"newfound cultural heterogeneity". There's a podcast you might be interested in called "Before we were white" and there's two part episode call "Black Paddywhackery" about the misconceptions and actual origins of the black Irish and makes the point that Ireland has been far more multi-ethnic historically than most people realize.
This author reflects a deeply nuanced view of the tension here in the US over anti-racism ideology popularized by Ibram X Kendi and others and the forthright work of Coleman Hughes. My own proclivities are with Hughes, but I see from this reading why I struggle with articulating this stand, knowing I cannot yet determine exactly where to place myself except with like-minded others.
I really enjoyed this piece! You are right at the philosophical level (of course you know it), but you are especially a very good writer, and therefore make complicated ideas easy to understand without losing the esthetic quality of a good narrative. I am so grateful you decided to put this gift to work by delving into such important issues!
Best opinion piece I've read on race in years. Nuanced, substanitiated, and clear. Thank you very much for articulating the words and ideas I've cast about to say.
I think the impetus behind the racialization of things is the ultimate desire to have a society that IS absent of the divisive/power struggle role race plays today. It sounds counterintuitive, but I feel like certain people of color find that it is necessary to bring attention to race in many situations due to the lack of awareness they’re perceiving white folk are having when going about things, so that the tacit unfairness towards a group of people based on race can be recognized and eradicated according to logical, wholistic reasoning. Like your example of “black Irish” versus “Nigerian Irish”. Obviously the goal is to have race no longer play much of a role in inter-human dealings, but if race continues to manifest as a factor in the dealings of those who claim to not use race as a factor, then race should be brought up to reveal what tacit leanings might still be affecting these “race neutral” arenas. And it will continue to be brought up as long as inequality emerges along racial lines, despite what is officially said or written in policy.
Anybody who has the slightest understanding of Irish history understands the complexity of whiteness, the numerous variables in power differences, and its clear analogue for all people worldwide in understanding the many varieties of difference in all regions: Asian, Arab, African, Latino, indigenous (anywhere) and on an on....everywhere.
This is a fantastic argument. Great piece.
This Race-ist thinking on the Left derived from Fanon, Kendi, Said and that dope who wrote White Privilege, is causing us to fall apart as a society in the US, is splintering the West, the only place that even cares about such issues, and is the most simplistic, facile, linear and ahistorical worldview since well, Social Darwinism. Oh the irony.
Great piece.
Excellent exposition.
“What could my identifying as black possibly tell you about me?” This FLOORS me in its simplicity. When people ask what I do for a living, my question is always “will it tell you how much respect I’m worthy of?” We chuckle and I answer but no, really…
This is a really good essay and I appreciate it a lot. There's only one thing I disagree with and it ain't even in the essay itself. It's in the author bio at the end where you mentioned Ireland's"newfound cultural heterogeneity". There's a podcast you might be interested in called "Before we were white" and there's two part episode call "Black Paddywhackery" about the misconceptions and actual origins of the black Irish and makes the point that Ireland has been far more multi-ethnic historically than most people realize.