aiacts.com I’m not certain. In any event, I’d think this would be an argument to use the term “white supremacist,” not simply “white people.” Even if we didn’t want to be in any way equating “white” with “white supremacist” we would at least want to avoid saying “white people are stupid.” It seems clear to me that if whites are to succeed in bringing a message to black Americans that blacks should be able to succeed in their lives without being at the expense of others, we are going to need whites to make the pitch. If we are going to advocate for what we consider to be “racial equality,” it will not be seen as sincere by most blacks if we are not talking about people who are not black and what they can and should be doing. If there was ever a case to redefine “white supremacy” in an economic sense (or not, just an economic, not a biological one), then this would seem to be it. Again, I think it’s perfectly justifiable to say whites are a racial group, and whites are to a large extent a hostile racial group, and they do have particular interests that only they can advance. However, if blacks don’t understand who we’re talking about and what we’re talking about, I see no good way for the rest of us to make our case. So: I’m fine with calling them “white people.” But it has to be a particular kind of “white people.” Otherwise the entire project starts looking like a dog and pony show. But I do think we need to do so in ways that indicate that we mean something other than simply “white people who are good-willed and will vote for good causes.” The way we do this, is by not talking about whites. Or the way I see it, is to say, yes, white people are an existential threat, but blacks are worse, and here is why. [...] This is an intriguing essay, and not at all a bad place to start. For example, some of the comments on his “Blogging on Race” piece are quite helpful: [….] We can debate all day on the nature of race and racism and what that means for the rest of our lives. But as far as I’m concerned, we do all those things first by being clear about our goals and how we get there. And we can have our disagreements on the details later. My own view, and I know, as you say, that not everyone would agree, is that the best of the race-positive people in America today believe that: 1) We need to be less ashamed of our race and more proud of it. A proud black man can be very attractive. A proud white man can be very unattractive. The point is, people notice (i.e., they are noticed). And everyone knows it. My daughter was recently on a playground where a little boy was getting in a fight with another little boy. He called the other boy a “nigger” and my daughter walked away and didn’t say a word. Everyone on that playground knew what was said. They saw the look on my daughter’s face and knew what was going on. It is time we realized that America needs to stop being shocked by racism and more realistic about it. Race relations are not the same as they were 50 years ago. They are not even close. People feel more comfortable around different races today than ever before. But we all know that there is a huge racial difference and it cannot be denied. If America didn’t realize that for the past 50 years, then the American people have spent the past 50 years being naive and stupid. We aren’t in any way trying to bring up this young person’s hurt feelings about what he heard that day. 2) Some people – especially some politicians and journalists – have an agenda in terms of race and how to solve America’s problems. And it is not an agenda designed to help blacks. It is an agenda to make money off of race, and to make black people and black voters part of a winning strategy for this other agenda. 3) The media have an agenda, which they use to further their agenda. The right and left wings of the political spectrum both use the media as a means to further their own agendas. 4) It is time to put more blacks in positions of power in America – in the media, in the government, in government programs, in business, on the street – the whole place. I have a theory about this. It has worked for us, for every group. As a white person, I say we put more blacks in positions of power because we think their positions will benefit all people – white and black. I do not expect that this will be true. I suspect that it will make a lot of white people uncomfortable. But I also have no doubt that it will benefit white America too. 5) A certain percentage of the black population is uninterested in race relations. They either really don’t care about their race (or its treatment by whites) and they don’t think it is part of their world, and/or they don’t believe in the politics of race. I don’t know what to make of this. I am going to let them go their way. I don’t want to make them an issue in the race relations debate. I’m not a racist and I’m not interested in convincing anyone that race is not an issue. In fact, I am interested in convincing the American people that racism is real and it is the number one issue in our country. 6) Black people are as complicated as white people. We just have a different set of challenges and an entirely different set of values. Most blacks have very little in common with the stereotype of “the angry black man.” They are as complicated and as nuanced as any other group of Americans. 7) We have to be willing to do things that won’t bring a lot of “applause” or benefit from the public relations people. It’s no fun doing that, but it’s how we keep power in America, especially in government. It’s how we make sure the next generation of American is able to live with a lot of the things in their life. There are blacks who benefit from all that is bad about America. I think those are the black people I am most interested in convincing to do good things for themselves and for their country. We are not trying to put in people who are perfect. We have no use for perfect people, thank you very much. We need people who are self-starters, who don’t have to be told what to do, and who can make decisions on their own, regardless of the consequences. There are lots of issues that may be more important to black people, but this is how we solve America’s problems with race. And we need a lot of people to do it. But I do not believe that we should waste time or make life more difficult for people who don’t care about the right kinds of things. I believe in love and grace. And I think that, eventually, all Americans will. [...] I did not mean to end up where I ended up. I’m still puzzled as to how I got here, and as to how the world does end up in such dark and ugly places, but so it goes. I do not know if “White Power” is a good thing or a bad thing, but I think that we need to consider if we can put a positive spin on the rhetoric of white supremacy (or White Power as it is also called). [...] [...] “White Power”? I think that we do know that it is good – and this fact is borne out by the reaction from blacks and leftists (and liberals) toward the election of President Barack Obama. It seems as though blacks knew they were doing their part toward bringing their people out of poverty, and yet the response was one of, as Ta-Nehisi Coates writes, “racial humiliation” [...] [...] a lot. I recently blogged on some of this stuff.