I was the wealthiest, most powerful person Brown knew, and I had $67
September 2, 2017 10:24 AM Subscribe
Really good.
posted by Secretariat at 11:31 AM on September 2, 2017
posted by Secretariat at 11:31 AM on September 2, 2017
Looking forward to the book. I've lived a long life full of plenty of misadventures, and there is only one reason I have never been booked by police officers: I'm white.
posted by kozad at 11:57 AM on September 2, 2017 [8 favorites]
posted by kozad at 11:57 AM on September 2, 2017 [8 favorites]
A really thought-provoking piece.
This piece thrusts me back into a puzzle I've been pondering a lot recently.
In the last few months or so, as I've binged on articles similar to this one, and NPR's Code Switch and 'Our National Conversation about Conversations about Race' and the recent 'Scene on Radio' series about whiteness, and a whole lot of books about the historical construction and contemporary expressions of systemic racism in the U.S., I've also begun to feel that a lot of these articles/podcasts/books are targeted at the same audience: people who are personally implicated and invested in the institutions, cities, and cultural milieu that support and continue to produce the American elite (e.g., top thirty universities and SLACs; cities that constitute the cosmopolitan and financial centers of the U.S.). This assumed audience often also seems to me to be white, especially when it comes to brief articles and some podcasts, many of which seem as though they would feel too "101" for most people of color.
Simultaneously, I find myself wondering about what a book/podcast/essay on these themes would look like, read like, sound like, if it addressed systemic power and injustice for an American audience assumed to be white AND to have no direct (geographic or intimate) connection to the production of eliteness (as distinguished, contentiously, from white supremacy). Let's say, people outside urban centers, who either voted for Trump or know a lot of people who did. The fact that I have a hard time imagining it -- and that I even (wrongly or rightly) anticipate objections here about the ultimate f/utility of such a piece, e.g. criticism that the production of eliteness can never be distinguished from whiteness, even or especially in rural Indiana -- is a puzzle I keep pondering, because it feels like it should suggest something important, or clarify something important for me, about where we're at in our in/ability to dialogue in a way that will meaningfully produce nationwide change. But whatever that is, it is not in my power to pinpoint, much less articulate.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 12:28 PM on September 2, 2017 [20 favorites]
This piece thrusts me back into a puzzle I've been pondering a lot recently.
In the last few months or so, as I've binged on articles similar to this one, and NPR's Code Switch and 'Our National Conversation about Conversations about Race' and the recent 'Scene on Radio' series about whiteness, and a whole lot of books about the historical construction and contemporary expressions of systemic racism in the U.S., I've also begun to feel that a lot of these articles/podcasts/books are targeted at the same audience: people who are personally implicated and invested in the institutions, cities, and cultural milieu that support and continue to produce the American elite (e.g., top thirty universities and SLACs; cities that constitute the cosmopolitan and financial centers of the U.S.). This assumed audience often also seems to me to be white, especially when it comes to brief articles and some podcasts, many of which seem as though they would feel too "101" for most people of color.
Simultaneously, I find myself wondering about what a book/podcast/essay on these themes would look like, read like, sound like, if it addressed systemic power and injustice for an American audience assumed to be white AND to have no direct (geographic or intimate) connection to the production of eliteness (as distinguished, contentiously, from white supremacy). Let's say, people outside urban centers, who either voted for Trump or know a lot of people who did. The fact that I have a hard time imagining it -- and that I even (wrongly or rightly) anticipate objections here about the ultimate f/utility of such a piece, e.g. criticism that the production of eliteness can never be distinguished from whiteness, even or especially in rural Indiana -- is a puzzle I keep pondering, because it feels like it should suggest something important, or clarify something important for me, about where we're at in our in/ability to dialogue in a way that will meaningfully produce nationwide change. But whatever that is, it is not in my power to pinpoint, much less articulate.
posted by mylittlepoppet at 12:28 PM on September 2, 2017 [20 favorites]
Looking forward to the book. I've lived a long life full of plenty of misadventures, and there is only one reason I have never been booked by police officers: I'm white.
I think back to the time I passed out in my front yard, having forgotten my keys, and was awakened by an Atlanta cop. I told him what had happened and my roommate was up and let me in and we all had a nice laugh. No being choked and tazed as three cops scream "stop resisting!" because I'm still having convulsions, no trip to jail, no public drunk conviction to explain away on job applications.
posted by thelonius at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2017 [12 favorites]
I think back to the time I passed out in my front yard, having forgotten my keys, and was awakened by an Atlanta cop. I told him what had happened and my roommate was up and let me in and we all had a nice laugh. No being choked and tazed as three cops scream "stop resisting!" because I'm still having convulsions, no trip to jail, no public drunk conviction to explain away on job applications.
posted by thelonius at 3:05 PM on September 2, 2017 [12 favorites]
Simultaneously, I find myself wondering about what a book/podcast/essay on these themes would look like, read like, sound like, if it addressed systemic power and injustice for an American audience assumed to be white AND to have no direct (geographic or intimate) connection to the production of eliteness (as distinguished, contentiously, from white supremacy).
An American audience with no direct connection to the production of eliteness? Like for example the police or security officers mentioned in this and other essays by Laymon? I'm not American so I stand willing to be corrected but it seems to me that part of problem being discussed here is the ubiquity of white supremacy, coastal elites or no.
posted by roolya_boolya at 7:13 PM on September 2, 2017
An American audience with no direct connection to the production of eliteness? Like for example the police or security officers mentioned in this and other essays by Laymon? I'm not American so I stand willing to be corrected but it seems to me that part of problem being discussed here is the ubiquity of white supremacy, coastal elites or no.
posted by roolya_boolya at 7:13 PM on September 2, 2017
I was supposed to encourage Cole to understand that his power brought down buildings, destroyed countries, created prisons, and lathered itself in the blood and suffering. But if used for good, Cole's power could lay the foundation for liberation and some greater semblance of justice in our country. Cole's power, I was taught, could one day free Brown.I'm in far milder situation than the author, but I have been thinking about some liberal/leftist whites' treatment of vigorous Nazi activism as some academic free speech edge case rather than an actual real threat to people and democracy. It's not so much their conclusions that are chilling, but rather their general sense of prioritization in the matter. It's like the electoral college vs. popular vote or something at that level to them.
I just didn’t buy it.
Never in my life have I seen so starkly what a power they have to feel white supremacist violence and denigration is abstract. Like the author, I think it might be the right thing to do to try to convince them how serious this stuff is, but I have doubts that such a large empathy gap can be crossed, that such an enormous power can be let go of.
I ordered the book right after reading the excerpt.
posted by ignignokt at 8:22 PM on September 2, 2017 [13 favorites]
Glimpse of author as an adjunct:
"I earned $1,900 a month after taxes for talking to young people about something called black literary imagination".
posted by doctornemo at 6:22 AM on September 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
"I earned $1,900 a month after taxes for talking to young people about something called black literary imagination".
posted by doctornemo at 6:22 AM on September 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
Haven't RTFA yet but Kiese Laymon is such a great, valuable voice. I loved How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America and Long Division, especially the parts of the former dealing with toxic masculinity.
posted by coolname at 4:13 PM on September 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by coolname at 4:13 PM on September 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
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