Extemporaneous musings, occasionally poetic, about life in its richly varied dimensions, especially as relates to history, theology, law, literature, science, by one who is an attorney, ordained minister, historian, writer, and African American.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
WHITE NATIONALISM, BLACK INTERESTS
"A striking feature of the 2000 presidential election, among the many associated with that historic event, was that it completed the capture of the American political system by the radical Conservative wing of the Republican Party, a project begun when Ronal Reagan was elected to the White House in 1980. In this work, I argue that race has had much to do with the evolution of this politics and that, as a consequence, Blacks constituted the base target of a set of public policies by the Reagan regime. Thus I will discuss the development of the Conservative movement and its influence on public policy from the perspective of its focus on the Black community ....
"The case made in this work for the existence of 'White Nationalism' as a sociopolitical phenomenon is based on substantial evidence which suggests the proposition that if a race is dominant to the extent that it controls the government of the state--defined as the authoritative institutions of decision-making--it is able to utilize those institutions and the policy outcomes they produce as instruments through which it also structures its racial interests. In short, it may reward, punish and so structure outcomes as to protect and enhance its racial interests....
"I argue that the detection of national White-majority interests can be achieved by understanding the sources of White alienation that led to the development of an intellectual rationale of policy 'failure.' Together with the notion that government actions are detrimental to Whites in the social arena, this rationale was used as the pretext for attacks upon policies oriented toward Black group interests and on the federal government which supported them. Policies oriented toward Blacks, it was argued, must be devalued of their perceived advantages, and the federal government must be weakened. This could be accomplished through policies which redistribute power to states and localities and promote flexible regulation of programs, thus permitting resources to be utilized in the interests of White-majority communities.
"The consequence of this new set of policies is that Black advancement in society is defined as a threat to White national interests in the competitive context of the 'zero-sum' concept. This interpretation is reflected in the new definition of 'racial discrimination,' whereby courts have reversed policies designed to provide fairness to Blacks because they are seen as unfair to Whites. Indeed, this view has been constitutionalized, resulting in the decimation of large areas of civil rights and the devaluation of Black social mobility. Moreover, this logic promotes government actions which have the consequence of punishing Blacks by withdrawing resources and subordinating them by such practices as racial profiling and high rates of incarceration and execution."
P.1-3, "Introduction," WHITE NATIONALISM, BLACK INTERESTS by Ronald W. Walters (Wayne State U.Press, Detroit MI: 2003)