Mentioning things

[mmcirvin]

So which is it? Do people constantly talk about class in America because they don't want to mention race, or do people constantly talk about race in America because they don't want to mention class? Because apparently both things are true and I want to know which taboo to fight first. Or are these different groups of mentioners?

Comments

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

#1. Nobody talks about Race Club.
#2. NOBODY TALKS ABOUT RACE CLUB.

[urbeatle.livejournal.com]

nah, they talk about race AND class because they don't want to mention caste.

[tomscud.livejournal.com]

This is one of those quantum things, right?

[jarai.livejournal.com]

I feel like race is a more taboo subject, but that class probably deserves a whole lot more attention than its been getting in the past decade or two.

[mskala.livejournal.com]

Poor white people talk about class. Rich black people talk about race. Others suit it to their audiences.

[pantom.livejournal.com]

Past racial struggle is fine to put on TV. Past union struggle (a class thing) isn't, because of the obvious reason that the broadcaster is a corporation.
OTOH, the fact that schools currently are more segregated than at any time since the late sixties is definitely due to race, but there is an element of class in there, as upper-class people, white or black, simply refuse to allow their children to have anything to do with children of a lesser class. I almost divorced my wife over that argument. I lost, so I'm still married. Still makes my blood boil every time I think about it. BUT, she's the one who got the local school board to make MLK day a holiday. I held my tongue about the contradictions in her position when she did that, of course.