I do.
It's on Tim Wise. Actually, it's not really a man crush, more like an anti-racist crush.
Tim, (I think I can call him Tim) recently wrote a post about the way a certain pill-popping, draft dodging radio commentator has been comparing the folks in Iowa to the the folks where I live based on how they handled flooding in their areas. It's the most recent entry under Essay Archives on his website.
Look, we all know the Iowa/New Orleans comparison is bullshit and we all know it's racist bullshit. There is no comparision; there are so many things wrong with even trying to compare the two events that it's not even funny. I don't have the time or inclination to debunk every racist myth because, well, life is too short.
But, dammit, Tim finds the time. In fact, Tim has made a full time job out of debunking racism and the pale brother is thorough. So thorough that every time I read something he writes I learn something new. I still use a statistic he dropped in a post about white folks in the 1960s believing that discrimination was no big deal when I'm arguing with white folks.
Simply put, Tim is a beast.
Anyway, I just wanted to put his work on blast after he dealt with something so close to home. Hope y'all find the time to read how he breaks it down.
peace
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6 comments:
Great post. I'm a fan of Tim Wise, and he has a lot of his stuff on You Tube, too.
headed over there right now!!
-OG
Great Post, and while I have been somewhat insulated from the comparisons in the back of my mind I knew some jackazz would be doing them. Unbelievable.
-OG
Tim Wise is a blessing to the body of Christ.
I missed the thing that came on TV back in Feb when he was on some panel up at Howard (and yes, I'll argue the benefits of Howard to other HBCU's ANYday, lol).
And I had a friend tell me as I was taking my stance against Barack Obama on some his campaign tactics that I DEFINITELY have issues with. And I mentioned his comment back in 2005 that said that we (the American public) need not be hasty to say that race played a factor in the governments response, let alone Bush's response (yeah, digest that) and she chimed in that "well, the government was slow in responding to the floods in Iowa" and I just didn't have the energy to argue just how wrong that statement was.
Wise said it best, you can't compare a slow rising flood that was CLEARLY forseeable, to the inundation of a city more or less overnight.
Annnnd, I'm reading "Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and the Color of Disaster." Have you read it? I mean, I disagree with the light Dyson placed Nagin, but, meh, you can't win 'em all.
JLL
I didn't read it. I've read one of Dyson's books and wasn't in a hurry to read another. The brother is smart, but I wasn't all that interested.
And if he said Nagin was stupid, then he was right. That "Chocolate City" comment, while true, was pandering to the utmost degree.
It wasn't for that comment, but rather on local response prior to the storm.
My Hurricane Katrina post is in the works. Just realized I had never done one, and definitely the whole experience was a defining moment in my life. Mentioned in posts here and there, but never a whole post on it.
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