Since Mr. Wise has begun posting diaries on Kos, there has been a constant, broad, thorough discussion on race, white privilege (I prefer the term "white advantage" as a way of helping very UN-privileged whites to understand). The discussion has been quite healthy and eye-opening, and has led to robust debate (and more than one pie-fight) to say the least.
There has not, to my knowledge, been a specific diary highlighting how far some remarks have gone off the reservation, and are examples of exactly what many trying to combat racism and bigotry are fighting against.
I fear the assertion that "non-whites cannot be racist" is emboldening non-white Kossacks to make comments and inferences that are absolutely racist.
If you missed Tim Wise's epic diaries, they are here.
I haven't read every single one, but the two that stand out to me the most are the ones where Tim confronted racism and "white privilege", and the one reviewing the under-the-table racism/bigotry that exists among many on the left.
I also didn't have a major problem with anything Tim wrote; while he may have taken some points a biiiit too far for some readers, I think Tim more than tries to make sure that many more whites are negatively affected by subconscious bigotry/racism than are outgoing Klansman. I really, really appreciate his contributions to DKos, and I know that the vast majority of Kossacks feel the same.
Other Kossacks, however, emboldened by the conversations and the willingness of so many white Kossacks to have open minds and understand what's really going on out there, have taken the debate too far, the assertions to all-encompassing, and have made some downright racist assertions and diaries, and that needs to STOP.
I'm trying to avoid calling out anyone in particular, but if you figure out the authors of the quotes, it's because you read the diaries, as many of these diaries/comments were on the rec list at some point.
First, about 2 days ago there was a diary posted that only lasted about 4 comments before it was deleted; it praised the situation in a borough's council elections in southwest US, where all the candidates were Latino, by saying (paraphrase) "And there isn't one white person on the list" several times, including in the title. I can't even link to my comment on the diary before it was deleted. We could just chalk it up to a troll agitator, but would said troll have been so bold previous to our constant conversation on race over the past month, along with some of the outrageous comments being made in them? My comment noted that, while the main assertion was quite racist, it was a shame the diary was likely going to be deleted, because the candidates all seemed to be strong progressives and fine candidates, and the diarist hadn't done a poor job reviewing their stories, at all.
Maybe just a troll. But when you read statements by rec-listed like this (bold added by me):
The Daily Kos audience demographic (white, male, over-50, "well-off") is not the past of the Democratic Party. It is not the present of the Democratic Party and it is certainly not the future of the Democratic Party.
Daily Kos is NOT the base.
Daily Kos is NOT the progressive vanguard of the left wing.
Daily Kos is White. Over 50. Well-off. Male.
It is time and long past time for other voices -- Black Brown Young Female - to be afforded more credence in evaluating policies and current political trends, to be better represented, and yes to be actually heard here.
It is time to bring on The Base.
Electing more and better Democrats requires nothing less.
Represent or become irrelevant.
Wow. So white, male, over-50, "well-off" voters are not the base, were never the base (because it was only minorities voting FDR into 4 terms, didn't ya know!) cannot be the base, and by stating that 'we' should be affording MORE credence to "black brown young female" (which I'm SURE she didn't mean 'necessarily all at once'), all those with at least one of the characteristics that 'aren't the base' feel as if, should the diarist be taken seriously, our points, opinions and assertions have been devalued.
Way to bring the community together...and to teach us not to be racists.
Understandably, quite a few Kossacks were upset. There were immediately a lot of excuses and re-stating, the first from the author of the diary:
Thanks for all the supporttive comments and requests for suggestions as to how to increase demographic diversity and representation at Daily Kos. Because there is much to be said on this, these suggestions will be the subect of a future diary, which will hopefully be done in collaborration with my comrades here.
Oh, so the point of calling whites, males, over-50's and anyone doing ok enough to be "well-off" by an unwritten standard, was to increase conversation and "suggestions as to how to increase demographic diversity and representation at Daily Kos?"
Or maybe this was the point:
The point is that this site is not (43+ / 0-)
representative of the Democratic Party, It is a slice of the Democratic party.
Reads like: "No, no, I didn't mean that...I love white people; I have white friends."
Then there's these gem comments to the same diary:
Why are you so offended? A nerve was struck? (9+ / 0-)
Explains a lot of the self righteousness around.. (9+ / 0-)
...here. White privilege is a disease
Also note the ethnicity and class of people who claim to be the "Professional Left"
Yeah, Cenk Uygur is the WHITEST white guy I know, and definitely criticizing the President because Obama is black, not because Cenk is a loud lefty purist, or anything like that.
Another rec-listed diary today copied this quote from www.racismreview.com:
unjustly gained political-economic power of European Americans,
I hope the above was a rather poor way of referring to voters who were perhaps deceived or mislead in Florida 2000, or maybe lasting colonial-era influence in the Dominican Republic? Because on its face, it implies that European-Americans (do you mean Patrick McDonald, Jacques Souflee, or Tony Soprano, btw?) as a whole have been unjustly or illegally elected to positions of political power...which is sort of a scary assertion, since assumed injustice requires a forcible change (removing lawfully-elected politicians? racial quotas in elections?).
Yikes.
From SistahSpeak, on the day of the first diary mentioned in this diary:
brilliant diary (10+ / 0-)
had to comment here, because my browser keeps crashing when i try to open the comment thread in that diary. funny the deniers and haters -- their defensive stances speaks volumes. like a wounded animal thrashing about, and thus lashing out.
Comparing anyone to animals is cool..and I'm sure African-Americans can tell us that it's no big deal. Especially animals that have to prove a negative.
(referring to 'old white males')
They're fools. And as robin points out in this diary, they're over.
Please forgive us uppity white folk for our transgressions, denial, and unconscious blindness. But please, don't go down the same road of hate that you so strongly rail against.