“Last place aversion” accounts for white resentment of safety net programs. Huck’s father is an example of the process at work.
Tag Archives: racism
Pap Would Have Voted for Trump
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Huckleberry Finn, last place aversion, Mark Twain, Pap, social safety net, status anxiety Comments closed
Iago Trump Whispers Poison into Our Ears
Of all Shakespeare characters, Trump, driven by racial resentment and thriving on chaos, may most resemble Iago.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, Othello, racial resentment, William Shakespeare Comments closed
For Roth, People Were Always Complex
The late Philip Roth’s novel “Human Stain” reenforced for me that humans are always more complex than ideological caricatures of them.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Human Stain, lynching, miscegenation, Philip Roth, political correctness Comments closed
Trump, Clifton, & Immigrants as Animals
Trump describing immigrants as animals is scary stuff, as this Lucille Clifton poem makes clear.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "at least we killed the roaches", Donald Trump, immigrants, Lucille Clifton, Ms-13 Comments closed
Inspired by MLK and Lucille Clifton
To honor Martin Luther King, I share a hard-hitting but hopeful Lucille Clifton essay by a first-year African-American student who is fulfilling his dream.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "i am accused of tending to the past", "meeting after the savior gone", "note to myself", "reply", Alyssa Hawkins, Lucille Clifton, Martin Luther King Comments closed
Happiness Based on Another’s Oppression
To understand why the race card is so politically effective, reading Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged American Dream, immigrants, Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas, race card, Ursula K Le Guin Comments closed
America, Racist and Revolutionary Both
In America, Jamaican immigrant Claude McKay reminds America what makes it great, even as he exposes its dark side.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged America, Claude McKay, Donald Trump, Dreamers, Immigration, Martin Luther King Comments closed
Mockingbird Discomfits the Wrong People
If teachers should teach controversial lit to discomfit their students, is “To Kill a Mockingbird” a good choice? There’s a problem if those most discomfited are black students.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Book banning, Go Set a Watchman, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird Comments closed
Las Vegas: Our Killers, Ourselves
As a white man, the Las Vegas shooter could not be fitted into an easy right wing Other narrative. “Beowulf” shows how monsters generally look like us.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beowulf, destructive anger, Donald Trump, Muslim ban, Stephen Paddock Comments closed
