This excellent interview with Tim Wise was sent to me this morning by "White Privilege Awareness Week" which I subscribe to.
I was very impressed by the interview and wanted to diary about some of the important points. Also, I looked for but couldn't find a text version of this interview. That makes it difficult to block quote, and I want to say this diary represents my interpretation of the interview.
Tim Wise starts out talking about "post racial liberalism" which is the philosophy that racial disparities are all economic; that a "rising tide lifts all boats" and if we pass desperately needed social programs such as universal health care, that disparity will disappear. He strongly supports economic programs such as universal health care, and I'm under the impression he believes such programs would have a strong impact, but believes a post racial color blind approach doesn't fully address the problem. To back this up, Mr Wise talks about health care studies that show even when African Americans have health insurance and the same access, they don't receive the same level of health care. For example, he points out studies show the infant mortality rate is still higher for middle classs and upper middle class African American women who have health insurance. He talks about research that shows white children's blood pressure drops when they go to sleep at night, but this doesn't happen for African Amerians. He also talks about what he refers to as "microaggressions" that build up from the long term stresses of systemic racism and have a significant health impact.
I also addressed some of this in a recent diary. In that diary, I talked about a study published in the American Journal For Public Health that estimated "over 886,000 deaths could have been prevented from 1991 to 2000 if African Americans had received the same care as whites."
In that diary, I also quoted sociologist Troy Duster
Well, you go back to the beginning of the 20th century, there was really a consensus that smallpox, tuberculosis, typhoid, cholera, yellow fever – all of these things were putting all of us at risk as a society....Now, move up to the last part of the 20th century. We all have running water, toilets; the streets aren’t full of feces... So it’s very hard when people say, "Well, my group is not at risk for cystic fibrosis, so what do I care about it?" If it were smallpox, since we’re all at risk, then it’s a public health problem
I wrote my interpretation of that interview in the diary
In other words, 100 years ago our major health problems were small pox, tuberculous, typhoid, and other serious diseases that affected rich and poor, white, black, and hispanic alike. If you were well to do, you were just as likely to get and die from these diseases. We were all in the same boat, so we were much more community minded and interested in our common health. Today our major health problems are diabetas, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, mental health, HIV/AIDS, obesity, and more. The risks and prognosis are affected by both race and economic class. If you are well to do and have good health care, you are early diagnosed and treated for diabetas and other diseases and your prognosis excellent. If you are poorer and unable to pay for health care, you are late diagnosed and will probably develop complications such as kidney disease, heart disease, and even go blind or lose a limb. The result is a society less community minded and less interested in our common health.
In the interview, Tim Wise made some additional points that I found very interesting. He talks about how after 1971, the media portrayal of poor people became disproportinately "black and brown." Prior to 1971, it was more white appalachia. But this change in media focus also coincided with the drop in public support for welfare programs that has taken place the past 40 years. Many people now believe such programs help mostly African American and Latinos. This has had consequences to many white Americans as well. The decline in support for a strong safety net also means many white Americans do not have access to programs when they need them. I wonder if this simply feeds numerous right wing talking points corporate America and Republicans want poorer white Americans to believe? These voters correctly sense an inadequate safety net for themselves, and rather than vote Democratic to improve that safety net they give in to false right wing talking points that the Democratic programs benefit mostly racial minorities?
He also talks about how the home foreclosure crisis began to impact many minority neighboorhoods 10-15 years ago, but we ignored the problem and sure enough it spread to more affluent neighboorhoods. Wouldn't it have been much better for everyone to have addressed the problem 10-15 years ago before it spread to the middle class?
Tim Wise also talks about how many white southerners supported the New Deal because it both benefited them and didn't include people of color. In fact, in this video he talks about how some white americans found their "inner libertarian" only when these programs began to include people of color.
Also, one reason some Democrats are hesitant to go beyond post racial liberalism is they are afraid of racial attacks that have been used effectively by the political right. What this ignores is the political right uses these attacks no matter what we do. For example, during the health care debate Rush Limbaugh and others claimed health care reform was reparations.
In closing, when I came to Daily Kos I was a believer in post racial liberalism. I was a strong economic populist and very strong supporter of universal health care, fair trade, strongly supported many housing and welfare programs, but I failed to address the specific needs communities of color had because I didn't understand those needs. But I have learned a lot since coming to Daily Kos and I'd like to thank a few people for that (they will know who they are!). I have also learned a lot about the enviornment and abortion.