From: johnson@whitewater.chem.wisc.edu (Art Johnson)
Subject: Re: Andrew Hacker in Palo Alto
Organization: Physical Sciences Lab, UW-Madison
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 93 18:04:26 GMT

In article <1k7bcmINNosq@morrow.stanford.edu> HF.GTD@forsythe.stanford.edu  
(Gabrielle Daniels) writes:
> I just wanna say my best homegirl Omonike and I went to see and hear
> Andrew Hacker last night at Printers' Inc in Palo Alto ...

     [...some stuff deleted...]
 
> ..
> Hacker prefaced that his book is not about how black people feel
> about race.  It's about what whites think and how they react about
> black people.  He said that there is very little written or said
> about what whites actually think and feel about their _whiteness_.
> Hacker said that whites love to talk about how their forebears
> created a great civilization in Europe, but they refuse to pay
> homage to their African roots.  In other words, white folks fear
> being dragged down to those primeval, African roots and look
> themselves in the eye, in admitting blacks are truly deserving of
> respect and humanity.
>
     
> His thoughts about how whites fear, use and co-opt other racial
> groups, like Asians and Hispanics, and showcase black folks like
> Colin Powell, Bill Cosby and O.  J.  Simpson for self-defense
> purposes were in line with what Afro-Americans have always known and
> discussed with each other.  In other words, whites turn them into
> _honorary white folks_ as a buffer against really having to deal
> with black people.  Later, a couple of people tried to steer Hacker
> into a black vs.  white discussion.  Again, Hacker explained that he
> wished only to analyze the reactive motives of whites.
> ..
     [...some stuff deleted...]
> ..
> What really got me was when Hacker fielded questions from the
> audience, which was about 50-50 black and white, and SRO.  A young
> white guy got up to say that there is a controversy in Left circles
> about obtaining economic justice--jobs and education--for blacks
> rather than going the political route.  Hacker countered:  _What
> kind of jobs are you thinking of?  The usual sweating, toiling,
> manual labor type of job that goes nowhere?  The kind of jobs that
> fits their _condition_?_ It made me think of my comment, _Even Marx
> is suspect._ All Omonike and I could do was shake our heads
> affirmatively and signify to the bro.  Because this is true:  the
> thinking and management jobs seem to go to whites or pass-for-white
> blacks, while the rest must sit up and take instruction, no matter
> what they have contributed to the company.
> ..
     
     [...some stuff deleted...]
> ..
> He said that in order for him to be able to teach these young people
> who were probably the first in their families to go to college, he
> had to give up and rework certain behaviors and attitudes he
> formerly had about race and about class.  This, he admits, is a
> lifetime process.

     Andrew Hacker sounds like a very perceptive man, Gabrielle. My  
experience with white Americans concurs with his description (for the most  
part). Interestingly enough, his comments on leftist white attitudes  
toward black Americans really strike a chord in me. _Many_, _many_ leftist  
whites really are thinking of unskilled, low wage, manual labor when they  
talk of job creation for black folks. And it's not just the kind of jobs  
believed to best fit "the black condition". It's the kind of jobs believed  
to best fit "the black _culture_". Just try and explain to a leftist white  
why black kids need a first-rate _technical_, as well as  
literary/artistic, education sometime. Then stand back and watch the shit  
hit the fan as the leftist white waxes lyrical about the wonderful  
musical, artistic, spiritual, and intuitive nature of black culture, and  
why would anyone want to destroy that by teaching black folks biology, or  
chemistry, or (Goddess forbid! :-)) _higher_ mathematics. No, better leave  
technical things to those "culturally best suited" to things technical.  
It's pathetic.

Arthur Johnson
johnson@whitewater.chem.wisc.edu

"Is there no help for the widow's son?" -- traditional Mason distress cry