Saturday Must Reads

If you don't read anything else I've posted or ever will post, I am begging you to read History: Democrats & Republicans On Civil Rights and Equality. H/T Oliver Willis

There is an awful lot of misinformation and untruth out there about the legacy of the two major political parties and the civil rights movement. Conservatives often like to use slight of hand, insisting that because the early Republican party was stronger in support of civil rights, this means that conservatives have the moral high ground. This is totally untrue.

After you read the above post PLEASE read Reading Racism from Right to Left: Reflections on a Powerful Word and it's Applications. H/T Tim Wise

This is part one of a two-part series on racism on the right and left of the United States’ political/ideological spectrum. Part One provides the reader with a working definition of racism, and then explores how racism at both the ideological and institutional levels is connected to and enhanced by American conservatism. Part Two will explore the ways in which American liberal and left rhetoric and policy prescriptions can also manifest or further racism at the ideological and institutional levels.

The piece is long, and less a polemic than an analytical think piece, but hopefully folks will find it helpful in future discussions of racism with friends and adversaries alike...

Then, Imagine if the Tea Party were Black H/T Ephphatha Poety

Imagine that a black pastor, formerly a member of the U.S. military, were to declare, as part of his opposition to a white president’s policies, that he was ready to “suit up, get my gun, go to Washington, and do what they trained me to do.” This is, after all, what Pastor Stan Craig said recently at a Tea Party rally in Greenville, South Carolina.

Peaceful reading.