Robert Reich on the Netroots Nation event

[DonCoquixote]

60. It's hard for Black people to understand what is obvious to white progressives

OK, I read you normally and do not think you are racist, BUT

That statement was VERY tone deaf.

Ta-nhesi Coates may write a lot about Race, but he also understands economics. When you make a statement that "black people find it hard to understand" you are coming off as saying a very polite version of "those (racial expletives) just do not understand" which was of course, the meme used to justify everything from slavery to jim crow. The worst thing you can tell black people is that they do not understand the problems they deal with. If you think Blacks and Browns do not understand that bankers and their toadies are an enemy, you have not listened to them.

Black people and others of color understand that the economic system is rigged. They know what "last hired, first fired" means, since they invented the phrase. They understand it better than the majority, because the rich used to feel that they had to throw dogbones to the majority, and to stroke their racial hatred so that the whites did not pay attention to the fact that the rich were picking their pockets. Bread and Circuses, the classic glue of Empire. Now however, the rich are beginning to treat good ol Joe Sixpack the way they used to treat Blacks and Browns, because the governments of the BRICS are saying "look, we have an obedient, low wage replacement for your middle class that will buy enough of your stuff to fund the financing hustle you do on wall street!" Of course, the rich, being stupid, are falling for that hook line and sinker; and are eagerly shoveling the American middle class into the furnace in the hopes of harvesting billions. But what angers so many of these "angry white working class" types that post here is that they completely ignored the left when they were screaming at the top of their lungs "Look you idiots, minorities are the appetizer, but YOU are the main course, and your children will be dessert!"

Yes, racism is part of economics, but economics is part of many other things, the raw lust for dominance being among them. Part of the reason Capitalism does the damage it does is because it tells people that everything, absolutely everything, can be boiled down to dollars and sense. For that matter, Communism, with it "all power is Capital" belief, tries to reduce everything down to a formula, which is why even Putin does not revive it. In other words, there are forces at work darker than just money, but the raw, human desire to make one group the alpha, and to beat on the betas, that has been with us ever since we were monkeys in the trees. Oh yes, the economics have to be attacked, but when even the President of the United States gets turds thrown at him by both the GOP and many in the Democrats, you do not have the right to deny the racism issue. Racism is based on primal fear and hate, which is why , sory to say, a lot of the self-appointed progressives cannot deal with it, because they want everything to be the sort of logical, gentrified discussion had over lattes while listening to NPR.