Tag Archives: racism

Flannery O’Connor’s DEI Revelation

By Robin Bates | Published: May 21, 2025

In Flannery O’Connor’s “Revelation,” we see the status anxiety that is driving many Americans towards reactionary politics.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Fascism, Flannery O'Connor, Revelation, status anxiety | Leave a comment

Kingsolver on Trump’s Rabid Support

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2025

Kingsolver’s novel “Unsheltered” shows the role that racism plays in Trump’s support.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Barbara Kingsolver, Donald Trump, John Stoehr, MAGA, Unsheltered | Comments closed

How May Justus Broke Racial Barriers

By Robin Bates | Published: March 11, 2025

May Justus’s “New Boy in School” broke new racial ground when it was published in 1963. The book is dedicated to me and my brothers.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Civil Rights Movement, May Justus, New Boy in School, segregation | Comments closed

Fighting the Erasure of History

By Robin Bates | Published: January 30, 2025

Black history month is more essential these days than it has been for a while given Trump’s desire to erase it. Black writers are important in keeping it alive.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "i am accused of tending to the past", "Life Every Voice and Sing", 1984, Black History Month, DEI, Donald Trump, George Orwell, James Weldon Johnson, Lucille Clifton | Comments closed

Simone Biles Rises

By Robin Bates | Published: July 28, 2024

Gymnast GOAT Biles has a tattoo of a line from Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” to inspire her.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Still I Rise", Election 2024, Kamala Harris, misogyny, Olympics, Simone Biles | Comments closed

Blake on Racism and Child Abuse

By Robin Bates | Published: April 9, 2024

Blake’s “Little Black Boy,” quoted by Lamott in her latest book, is a complex exploration of racism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Holy Thursday", "Little Black Boy", Anne Lamott, child poverty, Children, GOP, Somehow, William Blake | Comments closed

Caste in a Multicultural Democracy

By Robin Bates | Published: April 2, 2024

To grapple with Wilkerson’s understanding of racism as a caste system, I turn to Langston Hughes, Twain, and Arundhati Roy.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "Ku Klux", Arundhati Roy, Caste, Dalits, God of Small Things, Huckleberry Finn, Isabel Wilkerson, Langston Hughes, Mark Twain, Origins | Comments closed

Tim Scott’s Self-Debasement

By Robin Bates | Published: February 28, 2024

Sen. Tim Scott’s self-abasement before Donald Trump brings to mind various “Uncle Tom” poems written by Black authors.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged "All of Us Are All of Us", "robert", "Uncle Tom", Donald Trump, Harriet Beecher Stowe, James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Lindsey Graham, Lucille Clifton, Tim Scott, Uncle Tom's Cabin | Comments closed

Trump, “Vermin” and Terry Pratchett

By Robin Bates | Published: January 9, 2024

In “Snuff” one of Terry Pratchett’s angriest book, the author takes on racism, ethnocentrism, and intolerance.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged Art, Donald Trump, Fascism, intolerance, Snuff, Terry Pratchett | Comments closed