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Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

2 Jun

People rarely think about all the ways that "race-neutral" normal, everyday policies and practices perpetuate and help deepen racial disparities in this country. But they should. Because this too is a large part of what we mean by systemic racism

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When people hear the term "systemic racism" they think those using it mean that every institution is teeming with bigots just waiting to harm Black people or other POC. But that isn't what is meant by the term...(2)

Indeed, some of the most important drivers of systemic racism are not deliberate or intentional at all. Not to say there aren't such intentional elements, but they aren't necessary for racial inequity (and thus racism at a systemic level) to become sedimented...(3)

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Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

31 May

So, basically, Chuck Woolery is siding with Hitler here...good to know. Oh, and BTW, fact check. Critical Race Theory was actually a RESPONSE to traditional Critical Theory, which CRT saw as largely ignoring the role of racism in American law and society. Don't y'all have Google?

I also love that Chuck says Hitler "cracked down" on his enemies...interesting way to describe what Hitler did to those he viewed in that manner...

Critical Theory traditionally was class centric & Critical Legal Studies (direct precursor to CRT) downplayed the centrality of racism & the Black experience to the law. CRT was a corrective to that. To call it Marxist is lazy. It was a response to Marxist class reductionism

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Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

28 May

All you need to know about conservatives when it comes to debates about racism in America is this: these people believe the Civil Rights Act was wrong to prohibit racial discrimination in the private sector bc they think property owners' rights outweigh all else (thread)...

They admit this if you push them. Sometimes you don't even have to. Ben Shapiro says it openly, for instance. Which means the "progress" they brag about in "prohibiting discrimination" and systemic racism is progress they don't even support having happened (2)...

Had it been up to them, for instance, lunch counter operators could have continued to prohibit Blacks from dining at their establishments. Oh sure, they'll say they personally find those businesses' racism awful and would personally have not shopped/eaten there...(3)

Read 7 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

28 May

The entirety of conservative political thought is now "replacement theory" paranoia. First, that Dems and the left broadly are trying to physically replace white people with brown folk from other countries...

But then if that fails, we're plotting (supposedly) to replace the dominant uncritical white narrative of America (as a shining city on a hill) w/a critique that holds the nation up as a font of racist evil. In short, we're trying to replace the people or the story, or both...(2)

This is what people sound like when they've been so high on their own hegemony for so long they've never had to think about sharing physical or narrative space with people different than themselves. So pluralism feels like oppression to them...(3)

Read 8 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

26 May

Conservative Christians attack Critical Race Theory for supposedly teaching that whites today should be held responsible for the sins of their fathers & are inherently racist. Yet they believe humans are held responsible today by God for original sin, & are inherently sinful...

2/ Fact is, CRT doesn't say whites are inherently racist, bc it rejects the notion of races as categories with inherent tendencies/traits. And the idea that the nation should be responsible for its history of oppression is not a CRT idea. It's a basic moral principle of justice..

3/ But the right DOES believe in inherent tendencies. Sinfulness for humans (all Eve's fault of course, bc they like blaming women for things), for instance. And it is right-wingers who embraced The Bell Curve which suggests biological inferiority for Black people...

Read 5 tweets

Tim Wise

@timjacobwise

25 May

A year after the murder of George Floyd, it seems that much of the focus of anti-racism efforts has been on challenging white people to change personally rather than challenging structures of inequity...And yes, I know people maintain systems but stick with me here...

2/ If the issue is a justice system predicated on domination & control, implicit bias training is bullshit. The structure demands what it demands...The system produces inequity regardless of personal cop/DA/judge/jury bias...

3/ It does this by operating on a logic that says we need to have a top-down social control mechanism (police, courts) cleaning up the mess of a society we allow to produce chaos bc of mass inequity...

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