Tag Archives: racism

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Clifton’s Poem about a Lynching Victim

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2023

Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of a Jasper, Texas lynching. Lucille Clifton has a poem about victim James Byrd.

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Morrison on the Death of Emmett Till

By Robin Bates | Published: July 25, 2023

In “Song of Solomon,” Morrison has the men in the community grapple with what the death of Emmett Till means.

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Tony Bennett, WWII, and Race Activism

By Robin Bates | Published: July 23, 2023

Learning about late singer Tony Bennett’s life has opened up new insights into my father, also a World War II vet and civil rights activist.

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Pretending that Slavery Wasn’t a Big Deal

By Robin Bates | Published: June 5, 2023

Unlike Faulkner, the Southern Agrarians claimed that African Americans weren’t an integral part of Southern culture.

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Faulkner Understood How Racism Works

By Robin Bates | Published: May 31, 2023

Faulkner helps me understand my past growing up in the racist south. Sadly, he’s still relevant.

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