Some folks need to grow up: Black people are not the only victims of patriarchy

benfell

Donald Trump

An Axios newsletter makes it pretty damn clear that, if able, Donald Trump is almost certain to seek and win the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. He clearly has the interest and the support.[1] This should be absolutely no surprise.[2] The real question is whether he can win against Democrats who seem determined not to deliver.[3] My revised list of likely or manifest Democratic failures:

I wouldn’t even for a second be surprised if there’s more. This list is just compiled from the vagaries of my recollection.

It’s safe to say that Trump is repugnant to a significant portion of the population. A Democratic failure to deliver may seem anodyne in comparison but it’s hard to see how Democrats attract enthusiastic support.

Oh, and just so you know:

trumpery archaic noun (pl. trumperies) [mass noun] attractive articles of little value or use. practices or beliefs that are superficially or visually appealing but have little real value or worth.
► adjective showy but worthless: trumpery jewellery.
delusive or shallow that trumpery hope which lets us dupe ourselves.
ORIGIN late Middle English (denoting trickery): from Old French tromperie, from tromper deceive’.[4]

Yeah, it’s in the fucking dictionary.

Student loans

The bizarre thing about this article is that Alexis Gravely frames the problem in terms of race even as it appears the underlying story[5] only relates to race to the extent that Black people are already financially disadvantaged and, unsurprisingly,[6] continue to be financially disadvantaged after graduation.[7] However, my own experience[8] makes a mockery of any notion that this is a Black people-only problem.

This irritates me because the notion that power relations are intrinsic to racism[9] is making the rounds again in what very much looks to me like an apparent attempt—I offer Gravely’s article[10] and indeed George Yancy’s recent diatribe in Truthout[11] in evidence—to reduce all power relationship issues to race problems or at least desperately to ignore that any other power relationship problems exist, an attempt which needs to be called out from the rooftops for the profoundly repugnant bullshit that it is.

I do not intend in any way to diminish the disadvantages Black people face—I am witness to them every day as I drive around Pittsburgh. But Black people, especially those styling themselves as critical race theorists,[12] need to be damn clear that Black people are not the only oppressed subaltern group on earth and their thinking needs to address a broader system of bigotry and oppression.

Alexis Gravely, “The Struggles of Income-Driven Repayment,” Inside Higher Ed, October 22, 2021, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/22/research-advocates-fixes-income-driven-repayment

Pandemic

Pennsylvania region

Even as the local white supremacist gang union challenges Allegheny County’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in court,[13] a second Pittsburgh gang member has died from COVID-19.[14]

Police have not said whether either man was vaccinated. Public safety officials have said just 61% of the bureau is vaccinated.[15]

We can only wonder how many other people these white supremacist gang members spread COVID-19 to before succumbing.

Sarah Boden, “Experts question the science of police union’s challenge to Allegheny County’s vaccine mandate,” WESA, October 20, 2021, https://www.wesa.fm/health-science-tech/2021-10-20/experts-question-the-science-of-police-unions-challenge-to-allegheny-countys-vaccine-mandate

Paula Reed Ward, “Pa. Commonwealth Court panel hears argument on masking in schools,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 20, 2021, https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/commonwealth-court-panel-hears-argument-on-masking-in-schools/

Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police lose 2nd officer to covid-19,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 21, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-lose-second-office-to-covid/

  1. [1]Mike Allen to Axios A.M. subscribers, “Trump, your 2024 GOP nominee,” Axios, October 22, 2021, https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-am-44f270a6-4d66-4dbc-8aee-66fdb063677f.html↩
  2. [2]Tina Nguyen, “Javanka ’24: Will They or Won’t They?” Puck News, October 7, 2021, https://puck.news/jared-ivanka-24-will-they-or-wont-they/↩
  3. [3]Democracy Now! “‘We Need to Deliver’: Anger Grows at Sens. Manchin, Sinema over Obstruction of Democratic Priorities,” September 21, 2021, https://www.democracynow.org/2021/9/21/35_trillion_spending_bill_ro_khanna↩
  4. [4]Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed. (2010), s.v. trumpery.↩
  5. [5]Alexis Gravely, “The Struggles of Income-Driven Repayment,” Inside Higher Ed, October 22, 2021, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/22/research-advocates-fixes-income-driven-repayment↩
  6. [6]Thomas M. Shapiro, Great Divides, 3rd ed. (Boston:McGraw Hill, 2005).↩
  7. [7]Alexis Gravely, “The Struggles of Income-Driven Repayment,” Inside Higher Ed, October 22, 2021, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/22/research-advocates-fixes-income-driven-repayment↩
  8. [8]David Benfell, “About my job hunt,” Not Housebroken, n.d., https://disunitedstates.org/about-my-job-hunt/; David Benfell, “About that alleged ‘labor shortage,’” Not Housebroken, June 10, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/05/09/about-that-alleged-labor-shortage/↩
  9. [9]George Yancy, “No, Black People Can’t Be ‘Racists,’” Truthout, October 20, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/no-black-people-cant-be-racists/↩
  10. [10]Alexis Gravely, “The Struggles of Income-Driven Repayment,” Inside Higher Ed, October 22, 2021, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/22/research-advocates-fixes-income-driven-repayment↩
  11. [11]George Yancy, “No, Black People Can’t Be ‘Racists,’” Truthout, October 20, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/no-black-people-cant-be-racists/↩
  12. [12]George Yancy, “No, Black People Can’t Be ‘Racists,’” Truthout, October 20, 2021, https://truthout.org/articles/no-black-people-cant-be-racists/↩
  13. [13]Sarah Boden, “Experts question the science of police union’s challenge to Allegheny County’s vaccine mandate,” WESA, October 20, 2021, https://www.wesa.fm/health-science-tech/2021-10-20/experts-question-the-science-of-police-unions-challenge-to-allegheny-countys-vaccine-mandate↩
  14. [14]Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police lose 2nd officer to covid-19,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 21, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-lose-second-office-to-covid/↩
  15. [15]Megan Guza, “Pittsburgh police lose 2nd officer to covid-19,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, October 21, 2021, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-police-lose-second-office-to-covid/↩

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.