Ranting to /dev/null

Race and class

Slate is currently running an essay by Debra Dickerson called "Racist Like Me - Why am I the only honest bigot?" What makes that a little more interesting is that Ms. Dickerson happens to be black, as well as a retired Air Force Intelligence officer and a successful author. She left Harvard Law because she decided it wasn't for her. And yet she admits to being nervous around poor black people and baffled by her completely irrational identification with blue-collar blacks with whom she has nothing in common.

She makes an argument I have been making for years: class is a far more important distinction between demographic groups than race has ever been or will ever be. But her main thesis is that the reason that our cultures embedded racism refuses to dissipate is that we aren't allowed to talk about it. As soon as something sounds even remotely racist, the source of the offending comment is immediately considered guilty and thus not a source of legitimate dialog.

Quite an interesting read.