*AA GROUP* Ever notice how, in the discussions re: the "1%" vs. the "99%"

[YoungDemCA]

7. Remind me of which segment of the working class votes Republican in significant numbers

Last edited Sun May 22, 2016, 11:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Remind me of which segment of the working class doesn't want to pay taxes to fund programs for "those people" - even when said programs benefit the same people raging against them.

Remind me of which segment of the working class responded with violence and then fled their neighborhoods when Black people and other PoC started moving in.

Remind me of which segment of the working class pulled their kids out of neighborhood public schools once Black and Latino kids started attending those schools.

Remind me of which segment of the working class had to be dragged kicking and screaming into an era of equal rights for women and minorities - and with many people in that segment of the working class still not accepting that women and minirities are equally deserving of rights and opportunities.

Remind me of which segment of the working class has historically monopolized leadership among working class organizations (labor unions, for example).

Remind me of which segment of the working class, despite still having objectively more power and advantages in society than the rest of the working class, longs for the days when women and minirities "knew their place."

And lastly, remind me of which segment of the working class has historically been as much an obstacle to solidarity among all workers and marginalized peoples as they have been part of the drive toward progressive social change.

The "0.1" didn't "cook up" these divisions, they've been embedded into the foundations of Anerican society since colonial times. And though the wealthiest Americans (who, I would note, are a group that is overwhelmingly dominated by white men and their families) are the largest beneficiaries of those divisions, that doesn't mean that working and middle class whites (particularly white men) haven't themselves internalized those divisions and utilized their comparatively fortunate positions in society to their advantage - at the expense of those less fortunate or less well off. Not by a long shot.

There can be no unity among us until we acknowledge the role that whites, especially white men, and including a significant segment of working class whites, have had in maintaining and reinforcing economic and social divisions and heirarchies. There can be no unity unless we constantly challenge racism, sexism/misogyny, homophobia, nativism, and other systems of social dominance and oppression that operate everywhere - even in our own ranks as progressives . But that's apparently too "divisive" a conversation for many progressives to handle. Such a shame.

PS: insert the obligatory #NotAllWhites and #NotAllMen hashtags here, just to be clear. I'm not talking about those who have demonstrated empathy toward and solidarity with ALL who experience economic and social oppression, and who have shown a willingness to learn from those who are most marginalized by society. That's not who this is directed at, so calm down if you feel offended or picked on. But even so, all of us must keep these things in mind if we want to seriously work toward unity and solidarity.