The late Philip Roth’s novel “Human Stain” reenforced for me that humans are always more complex than ideological caricatures of them.
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Tag Archives: racism
For Roth, People Were Always Complex
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
May We Sail without Giving into Our Fears
A Noah’s Ark poem by the great Syrian poet Adonis can be applied to the Puerto Rico rescue effort, especially as certain people on the right attempt to inject race into the affair.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "New Noah", Adonis, analysis, Donald Trump, evangelicals, flooding, Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico Comments closed
Do You Believe in the Great White Race?
There’s a marked contrast between the nobility people claim for the Confederate statues and the young men swarming around them. Langston Hughes understood the contrast in his darkly humorous “Ku Klux.”
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Ku Klux", Confederate statues, Donald Trump, KKK, Langston Hughes, which supremacy Comments closed