Why are people who oppose racism often reluctant to discuss class?

October 9, 2009 3:26 PM

Why are people who oppose racism often reluctant to discuss class? In the Jackson Jive incident, five upperclass Australians, four white and one Indian, did an astonishingly racist skit that was paid for by the show's upperclass producers, yet in the discussion on MetaTalk, the idea that this might have something to do with class was only brought up as a joke.

I noticed the reluctance years ago: For some antiracists, "class issues" is a square on their racist bingo card. When class divisions among blacks are so great that 40% of US blacks believe there are effectively two black races, I would think anyone interested in race would want to look at class also. Any study of race suggests that modern racism was developed and promoted by the rich to divide the poor. And yet, bringing up class in discussions of race often leads to the charge of derailment. Is this because class is the last taboo? Or can racism be considered without considering its context?

posted by shetterly to etiquette/policy at 3:26 PM (6 comments total)

Is there a reason this needed a new thread?
posted by katillathehun at 3:30 PM on October 9

People didn't seem to want it in the Aussie thread.
posted by shetterly at 3:30 PM on October 9

This is not a good faith question- this is you wanting to state your position over and over again.

(However, if you put together a Metafilter post about class and race in America it could be very cool if done in a non-axe-grindy manner.)
posted by small_ruminant at 3:32 PM on October 9 [1 favorite]

Shetterly, you need to move this general topic to your own blog. You need to not call out MetaTalk threads on MetaTalk just because we've told you that that other thread isn't the place to talk about it.

Put another way: the reason this was brought up as a joke on Meta is because you always bring the class issue up in every single thread about racism. It's a sitewide joke. It's your own pet topic. Most people don't disagree that there's a lot of overlap between racial discrimination and class-based discrimination but continuing to harangue people who are trying to make steps against racism because they're not doing enough to combat class discrimination is actually causing trouble on the site. It's like harassing all vegetarians for not being vegan.

Put another way: this is your axe to grind and we've asked you politely to please not become a single-topic poster here. I'm not seeing that awareness that I'm hoping for that this thing you're doing is causing trouble for the site.
posted by jessamyn at 3:32 PM on October 9 [15 favorites]

Oh, man. You know what? I want to say something, I'ma let you finish, but, etc. I've noticed this kind of thing always seems to happen here on holiday weekends. DON'T LET IT HAPPEN TO YOU. Call someone you love, guys, for real. Life is too short for three days of this stuff.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:32 PM on October 9 [5 favorites]

And I'll be closing this thread.
posted by jessamyn at 3:33 PM on October 9 [1 favorite]