Hi Steve, I've appreciated the experience of reading your work (articles and commentary) over the last few months. It's been hard, I won't lie. As you say in this commentary, there's a lot of de-conditioning required, and it's an effing lot of work. But it's worth it.
Question: Do you have an article or essay providing more details on you…
Hi Steve, I've appreciated the experience of reading your work (articles and commentary) over the last few months. It's been hard, I won't lie. As you say in this commentary, there's a lot of de-conditioning required, and it's an effing lot of work. But it's worth it.
Question: Do you have an article or essay providing more details on your philosophy and game plan--not just within the context of the counter-productive approaches you critique so well? I often find myself wondering how you imagine putting your ideas into practice--at scale, as opposed to you changing minds one on one. How can it catch fire? Can it? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this (or any source material you may have).
"How can it catch fire? Can it? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this (or any source material you may have)."
This is a fantastic question to which I have an unsatisfying answer. I plan to keep ringing the bell and broadening my audience (there's some cool stuff coming on this next year but I can't talk about it yet).
As far as I see it, race discourse is struggling for a number of reasons:
1. There's a significant degree of fetishisation of black people's suffering, from both some black people and some white people, which it's taboo to question. When people like Eli say things like "black people are having their souls ripped out of their chests", it's currently risky to publicly call it out for the nonsense it is. Especially if you're not black.
2. There's the very common toxicity in racial discourse and an increasing comfort with race essentialism. Black people are X. White people are Y. This firmly upholds the foundations of racism.
3. There's a great deal of focus on systems and white people, which is fair. But there's next to none on what black people need to do. Again, this is exceedingly taboo to talk about. Even for black people.
4. Very few people are talking about race and racism in a way that points to the very real problems some black people face in a way that can be understood by people who aren't black. Add the aforementioned toxicity to attempt that *are* made to talk about black people's struggles, and nobody really learns much.
My goal with all of my race writing is to tackle these issues. And having made the switch to writing full time, I have room to focus on bigger, more ambitious projects. There are already small ripples forming as a result of what I and many others are doing. It just takes time.
This is *not* an unsatisfying answer. Unsatisfying would have been "it's never going to happen" or "I have no idea". This is a long-term problem needing long-term solutions, and it sounds like you're all in. Looking forward to learning more and contributing, as possible.
Re: your four reasons, this is a really useful (if depressing list). Sadly, I'd like to add a fifth: race discourse is a casualty of general challenges to discourse presented by a host of factors that have people really struggling to empathize with each other, across all groupings. I'm def not saying the past was some sort of wonderland of shared values and understanding. But we're not well, indifference to other people is endemic, open hostility is common. Taking on race in this moment is in some ways like starting to begin a new exercise and diet regime while suffering from the flu.
That said, waiting won't change anything. And maybe we need to really hit bottom before we can countenance the truly difficult work.
Hi Steve, I've appreciated the experience of reading your work (articles and commentary) over the last few months. It's been hard, I won't lie. As you say in this commentary, there's a lot of de-conditioning required, and it's an effing lot of work. But it's worth it.
Question: Do you have an article or essay providing more details on your philosophy and game plan--not just within the context of the counter-productive approaches you critique so well? I often find myself wondering how you imagine putting your ideas into practice--at scale, as opposed to you changing minds one on one. How can it catch fire? Can it? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this (or any source material you may have).
Thank you!
"How can it catch fire? Can it? I'd love to hear some thoughts on this (or any source material you may have)."
This is a fantastic question to which I have an unsatisfying answer. I plan to keep ringing the bell and broadening my audience (there's some cool stuff coming on this next year but I can't talk about it yet).
As far as I see it, race discourse is struggling for a number of reasons:
1. There's a significant degree of fetishisation of black people's suffering, from both some black people and some white people, which it's taboo to question. When people like Eli say things like "black people are having their souls ripped out of their chests", it's currently risky to publicly call it out for the nonsense it is. Especially if you're not black.
2. There's the very common toxicity in racial discourse and an increasing comfort with race essentialism. Black people are X. White people are Y. This firmly upholds the foundations of racism.
3. There's a great deal of focus on systems and white people, which is fair. But there's next to none on what black people need to do. Again, this is exceedingly taboo to talk about. Even for black people.
4. Very few people are talking about race and racism in a way that points to the very real problems some black people face in a way that can be understood by people who aren't black. Add the aforementioned toxicity to attempt that *are* made to talk about black people's struggles, and nobody really learns much.
My goal with all of my race writing is to tackle these issues. And having made the switch to writing full time, I have room to focus on bigger, more ambitious projects. There are already small ripples forming as a result of what I and many others are doing. It just takes time.
This is *not* an unsatisfying answer. Unsatisfying would have been "it's never going to happen" or "I have no idea". This is a long-term problem needing long-term solutions, and it sounds like you're all in. Looking forward to learning more and contributing, as possible.
Re: your four reasons, this is a really useful (if depressing list). Sadly, I'd like to add a fifth: race discourse is a casualty of general challenges to discourse presented by a host of factors that have people really struggling to empathize with each other, across all groupings. I'm def not saying the past was some sort of wonderland of shared values and understanding. But we're not well, indifference to other people is endemic, open hostility is common. Taking on race in this moment is in some ways like starting to begin a new exercise and diet regime while suffering from the flu.
That said, waiting won't change anything. And maybe we need to really hit bottom before we can countenance the truly difficult work.
Thank you again.