Let Them Eat Diversity

Are you kidding me, I’ve been called a racist for twenty years. Ever since I published the beginning of Our America, the first article that went into Our America, which was an argument that there was no such thing as race, including the social construction of race. People use to label that “liberal racism,” now they don’t bother to say it’s “liberal.” That Richard Kim thing is pretty blatantly empty. He’s saying, “It’s racism, Michaels is upset, because there’s all these Black people on campus and there are all these Asian people on campus and all these Latinos on campus” … first of all, I don’t know anyone who’s actually upset by this. We’re upset, because there are no poor kids on campus. But even when Kim is confronted with an argument which says explicitly—“look the problem with affirmative action is not that it is a form of ‘reverse racism,’ the problem with affirmative action is that it doesn’t get at the group that actually is excluded from universities and that is poor people,” all he can think of to say is “see, that guy’s a racist.” I have no idea how to respond to that other than to say that whatever one’s personal feelings might be (even if I were experiencing the dread “White male status anxiety”!), the group that is actually excluded from American universities is poor people, and that’s true, whether it is “racist” or not. “You’re a racist” is not even an attempt to counter the truth of the argument; it’s just pure ad hominem of the most uninventive and, in this case, the most unconvincing and irrelevant type.

I essentially try to make the argument as clearly as possible and sometimes that’s going to cause more problems and disputes and sometimes not, but that stuff doesn’t matter to me. And I know that some people don’t actually criticize the argument, but criticize the way in which it’s put. I think it’s Doug’s view that there are lots of people who really dislike what I’m saying and for that matter what Adolph [Reed] is saying and wouldn’t dislike it so much if it were put differently, but I don’t really agree with that. I think they really dislike it and it doesn’t matter how it is put. They wouldn’t be less annoyed if it was put less pointedly. And a lot of them think of themselves as being on the Left and they think it’s especially inappropriate for people to come along and tell them that the thing they like best about themselves, their anti-racism, is not in and of itself a left-wing commitment.

Coach wrote:Let Them Eat Diversity

An interview with Walter Benn Michaels for Jacobin Magazine (Winter 2011 issue)

Are you kidding me, I’ve been called a racist for twenty years. Ever since I published the beginning of Our America, the first article that went into Our America, which was an argument that there was no such thing as race, including the social construction of race. People use to label that “liberal racism,” now they don’t bother to say it’s “liberal.” That Richard Kim thing is pretty blatantly empty. He’s saying, “It’s racism, Michaels is upset, because there’s all these Black people on campus and there are all these Asian people on campus and all these Latinos on campus” … first of all, I don’t know anyone who’s actually upset by this. We’re upset, because there are no poor kids on campus. But even when Kim is confronted with an argument which says explicitly—“look the problem with affirmative action is not that it is a form of ‘reverse racism,’ the problem with affirmative action is that it doesn’t get at the group that actually is excluded from universities and that is poor people,” all he can think of to say is “see, that guy’s a racist.” I have no idea how to respond to that other than to say that whatever one’s personal feelings might be (even if I were experiencing the dread “White male status anxiety”!), the group that is actually excluded from American universities is poor people, and that’s true, whether it is “racist” or not. “You’re a racist” is not even an attempt to counter the truth of the argument; it’s just pure ad hominem of the most uninventive and, in this case, the most unconvincing and irrelevant type.

I essentially try to make the argument as clearly as possible and sometimes that’s going to cause more problems and disputes and sometimes not, but that stuff doesn’t matter to me. And I know that some people don’t actually criticize the argument, but criticize the way in which it’s put. I think it’s Doug’s view that there are lots of people who really dislike what I’m saying and for that matter what Adolph [Reed] is saying and wouldn’t dislike it so much if it were put differently, but I don’t really agree with that. I think they really dislike it and it doesn’t matter how it is put. They wouldn’t be less annoyed if it was put less pointedly. And a lot of them think of themselves as being on the Left and they think it’s especially inappropriate for people to come along and tell them that the thing they like best about themselves, their anti-racism, is not in and of itself a left-wing commitment.

http://jacobinmag.com/winter-2011/let-them-eat-diversity/

rockstar1488 wrote:
the solution to this problem is simple. people should be admitted to universities based on MERIT. income or race should not be a determining factor. our absurd egalitarianist society accuses an establishment of being racist just for not having enough minorities. cant these egalitarianists see that affirmative action hampers progress?

City of the Sun wrote:Affirmative action was established in an attempt to appease groups generally without the opportunities and priviliges the upper class (which was and still is composed of whites). Although the situation has somewhat improved, AF should still exist until a greater balance of power amongst different ethnic groups is reached, or until the revolution is succesful