2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Third Way Progressives, Screwing the Plebs [View all]Prism
(5,815 posts)I don't think you do. I really don't.
Economic and social inequality are interconnected. When a white shopkeeper follows around a black consumer, you're witnessing more than racism. You're witnessing a mindset. The shopkeeper assumes the black patron is poor. Who steals? Poor people. When the shopkeeper sees a black person, he thinks "Poor person who will steal."
And that attitude shows how the two attitudes are interconnected. Remember when Oprah got all screwed up in Paris? The headline was, "Snooty shop is racist!" What was the unspoken headline? "Snooty shop thinks black woman could not possibly have money!"
It's a tragedy that social and economic justice are being separated with such an insistent crobar in our political discourse when racist attitudes are so often mirrored by white people who just damn assume all black people are poor.
Why is that? Do you think that assumption would exist like this in a system of economic equality?
I don't believe "A rising tide lifts all boats." It does to an extent, but some boats have damn heavier anchors. But pretending that economic justice has little to nothing to do with social justice is either dishonest or ignorant. The situation is married, and pretending there's an open relationship just plain doesn't work.