It's all very well Dean Let's float the theory that these dumb mums are actually quite smart?
Perhaps the white working class moms feel that their life chances and those of their children. (sons especially) are made worse by the institutional racism and sexism that sees people like Kamala Harris tainted by the strong suspicion that she was appointed on racist and sexist grounds, at least to some extent.
"I'm having it tough, the prospects for my son are poor - (think Toxic masculinity and payback for white privilege). Folk like her are getting the jobs through Affirmative Action aka racism and sexism. Nope not voting for that."
Because of affirmative action you'll get plenty of people think it was the opposite of "Judged by the content of her character not the colour of her skin. "
I get what you're saying, that affirmative action leads to a backlash among poorer white communities which could view it as providing an unfair advantage. I get what you're saying, honestly I do.
But what I'd say back to that is, affirmative action is levelling the playing field in America. Jim Crow is still living memory, and slavery only ended 159 years ago. You can't just say 'now you're free, off you trot'.
Black America has suffered generational deprivation of access to all sorts to the point that we're not talking about a level playing field. I'm reminded of Voegeli's book 'Free But Not Equal'. Affirmative action is designed to resolve institutional racial barriers that are quite real in American society.
To a dominant group used to historically set privilege, actual equality often feels like an imposition. White America needs to deal with it.
All really good questions. I fully concede there are real-life cases where affirmative action in the US has utterly failed (see Harvard lawsuit about its alleged discrimination against asian-americans in order to boost african-americans)
But ultimately, ethnic minorities do face structural racism in everyday life, especially implicit biases. Discrimination is real and unless or until an alternative leveling of the playing field policy can be found and deployed, I'm remaining steadfast in my support of affirmative action in the US for now.
Leonard Cohen said that if the guys taking over the Pentagon in the revolution were wearing uniforms then it wasn't a revolution. Replacing one crappy hierarchy with a different but crappy hierarchy.
Affirmative action is words for different racism a different hierarchy that still cheats some. But is not just racism. There is sex based affirmative action. Gay based, Trans based.
And where does that leave poor white moms? Understanding that Kamala and others are going to cheat their sons and daughters. Whereas the system still has plenty of wealth privilege built in. You there have your answer to why deeply unpleasant forces are stirred up amongst the Red Necks. Who ever they vote for they'll still be at the wrong end of the quesu for money, status, jobs and other things.
It's all very well Dean Let's float the theory that these dumb mums are actually quite smart?
Perhaps the white working class moms feel that their life chances and those of their children. (sons especially) are made worse by the institutional racism and sexism that sees people like Kamala Harris tainted by the strong suspicion that she was appointed on racist and sexist grounds, at least to some extent.
"I'm having it tough, the prospects for my son are poor - (think Toxic masculinity and payback for white privilege). Folk like her are getting the jobs through Affirmative Action aka racism and sexism. Nope not voting for that."
Because of affirmative action you'll get plenty of people think it was the opposite of "Judged by the content of her character not the colour of her skin. "
Are those Moms right, at least a bit?
I get what you're saying, that affirmative action leads to a backlash among poorer white communities which could view it as providing an unfair advantage. I get what you're saying, honestly I do.
But what I'd say back to that is, affirmative action is levelling the playing field in America. Jim Crow is still living memory, and slavery only ended 159 years ago. You can't just say 'now you're free, off you trot'.
Black America has suffered generational deprivation of access to all sorts to the point that we're not talking about a level playing field. I'm reminded of Voegeli's book 'Free But Not Equal'. Affirmative action is designed to resolve institutional racial barriers that are quite real in American society.
To a dominant group used to historically set privilege, actual equality often feels like an imposition. White America needs to deal with it.
"Affirmative action is designed to resolve institutional racial barriers that are quite real in American society."
That is the mantra. If it is designed to do that then it must be doing it.
I really do wonder
1) How well it achieves that.
2) At what cost.
3) Are there better ways?
All really good questions. I fully concede there are real-life cases where affirmative action in the US has utterly failed (see Harvard lawsuit about its alleged discrimination against asian-americans in order to boost african-americans)
But ultimately, ethnic minorities do face structural racism in everyday life, especially implicit biases. Discrimination is real and unless or until an alternative leveling of the playing field policy can be found and deployed, I'm remaining steadfast in my support of affirmative action in the US for now.
Leonard Cohen said that if the guys taking over the Pentagon in the revolution were wearing uniforms then it wasn't a revolution. Replacing one crappy hierarchy with a different but crappy hierarchy.
Affirmative action is words for different racism a different hierarchy that still cheats some. But is not just racism. There is sex based affirmative action. Gay based, Trans based.
And where does that leave poor white moms? Understanding that Kamala and others are going to cheat their sons and daughters. Whereas the system still has plenty of wealth privilege built in. You there have your answer to why deeply unpleasant forces are stirred up amongst the Red Necks. Who ever they vote for they'll still be at the wrong end of the quesu for money, status, jobs and other things.