Maybe movements for justice--and the people who comprise them--shouldn't limit themselves to what does well with the centrist white focus groups, despite what the Savvy Analysts™ think.
(Notice all the Savvy Analysts™ are white men. As are all those who QT them approvingly or respond with gushing praise to their "don't let woke politics ruin Democrats' chances" takes. I'm not exaggerating--literally every reply I saw was from a white dude)
"Well, Dr. King, you make some good arguments, but there are key white voter blocs who just aren't comfortable with all this 'social justice wokeness,' so we're gonna have to ask you to cool it with the marching. Also, 'we shall overcome' seems a bit too confrontational..."
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," say the people who prize procedural inertia over the discomfort of real justice.
Maybe civil rights for all shouldn't be hostage to the delicate feelings of defensive white people? Just spitballing here.
Everyone knows the Fredrick Douglass quote. "if there is no struggle, there is no progress." But it's worth reading the full passage:
The key point that Douglass identified: "power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has and never will." The Matty Y's of the world are the power structure itself, refusing to concede, and telling you to stop with all the pesky demands.
It's always the same people being asked to compromise, to be patient, to tone down their language, to not be so pushy, etc etc etc. There's a reason for that. But it's also a sign that movements for justice might actually be accomplishing as something, and we should keep it up.
In other words, if it's making the white people who've made centrism their brand uncomfortable, it's the right thing to keep doing.
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How many tenured faculty and admins lament that "my students can't write" yet say or do nothing when the faculty who actually teach writing are treated as disposable commodities, deserving of neither money or security?
No, individual faculty may not be able to change this trend. But if we actually demonstrated solidarity with our adjunct/term/precarious colleagues, as opposed to ignoring them or simply mouthing platitudes, we could leverage our power in service of what higher ed *should* be.
What would it look like if your adjunct faculty were invited to attend dept meetings? Participate in curricular/pedagogical conversations? Were represented in faculty governance? If f/t faculty lobbied for a path to full-time status for longer-term adjuncts?
So if I'm reading the Politically Savvy People Discourse correctly, it seems the way to defeat fascism is not by protecting voter rights, working against racism, or actually fighting fascists, but to stop making white people sad and let Radio Fr** Tom be in charge.
Sure, Tom and all his buddies built the foundation and the walls for all this, but now they want us to let them fire the current roofers and do that, too. Makes total sense. Such a fucking svengali.
One time, 30 yrs ago, James Carville taped a sign that said "it's the economy, stupid" to the wall, the entire punditocracy reacted as if he'd just come down from Mt. Sinai with divinely-etched stone tablets, and we've had to listen to his thinly-veiled racist garbage ever since.
I know this isn't a new observation, but the way we finance health care in this country is a goddamn joke.
I'm fortunate to be in a position where I can pay this bill, but damn. This is one of the underappreciated consequences of a struggling small-college sector--institutions cutting costs by negotiating shittier employee health policies. In practice, it's essentially a pay cut.
Not to mention, tying health insurance to full-time employment is one of the worst policy choices this country continues to make.