AN OPEN LETTER TO TIM WISE:
TIME TO TIGHTEN UP OUR ANTI-RACIST PHILOSOPHY AND GAME
Tim, as it relates to your recent article concerning Bishop Desmond Tutu ( https://timjwise.medium.com/the-vital-lesson-archbishop-tutu-taught-me-about-life-95513da5262f ), I know you mean well, but it’s important for us to be careful with loose statements about “ending [the] system of racial oppression.” I get it that your statement refers to legal Apartheid, as it existed in South Africa. However, as you know well, there is but ONE “system of racial oppression,” which is global, e.g., international in nature and scope, and is very much alive and well in South Africa, as well as across the entire earth.
While Bishop Tutu definitely made a clear, important, and measurable impact relative to racial justice and equity _ he, nor anyone else, has “ultimately helped secure it.’’ That fight is continuing, and in my humble, but unequivocally staunch and informed view _ ALL of us who are able, need to do more in pursuit of final victory. In fact, those with knowledge and means need to step up and help lead relative to initiating/building a DEADLY-SERIOUS NATIONAL ANTI-RACIST MOVEMENT (far beyond that which currently exists). There is a need for one that will make the Modern Civil Rights Movement look like child’s play. Yes (after all of these centuries), that’s how serious it needs to be.
https://www.vox.com/videos/2021/4/19/22391869/why-south-africa-is-still-so-segregated (no matter how right-wing a source may be __ if it contains accurate information_ then it is useful).
“Winning [is definitely] the goal [in the] case of obtaining justice. Anything shy of the ultimate goal _ is [not necessarily] seen as failure,” at least not by those of us who understand the nature and essence of Struggle, especially as it relates to winning battles vis-à-vis the war. Yet the war MUST be won _ otherwise, the Struggle continues… . Again in my humble, but unequivocally staunch and informed view _ more of us need to join (in more meaningful, serious, and measurably-impactful ways _ like Bishop Tutu, and so many others did).
Where the Black masses and other oppressed peoples are concerned, there can be no such thing as feeling “defeated and cynical about the prospects for change.” We should not put that kind of dreadful idea or narrative into the atmosphere. Those who “withdraw [permanently] from [antiracist] efforts, much to the satisfaction of those seeking to perpetuate whatever injustice we [are] fighting,” obviously were NOT fully committed from the start. With regard to obtaining justice, there is no “higher purpose than winning” _ period. To suggest otherwise is very, very problematic, especially among those who are MOST oppressed and who suffer the MOST. Indeed it is important to “pace oneself,” while at the same time keeping in mind that as far as many are concerned, chronic gradualism is no longer acceptable (the modern anti-racist Struggle is already between 600 & 700 years old).
“….forgetting the glacial pace at which justice comes will only foster burnout.” WHAT???!! I have to be straight with you Tim, statements such as your latter quote come across as rationalizations and possible excuses not to do more _ period. Whether or not the “pace [is] glacial” depends almost entirely on what (exactly and specifically) we are willing to do in order to speed it up. This basic truth is evident via so, so many crystal-clear examples throughout history, including the most recent (during the long-hot-summer of 2020) when warehouses, factories, department stores, and many other structures and businesses, including police facilities and cars, etc…, were literally on fire across this thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based nation-state _ in every direction _ North, East, South, and West. During that brief period of largely missed opportunity, the pace of something that had begun to resemble justice (more so than anything we had seen on such a large scale in recent decades) _ was NOT at all “glacial.” In fact, white-supremacist-based corporate America opened its wallets, bank books, and produced blank checks to fund “justice”-initiatives. All kinds of commitments were made (most of which were not kept). Sadly, in many if not MOST cases, either selfish, greedy, or ill-prepared/ill-equipped “leaders” blew it, and/or enriched themselves on the backs of the suffering masses (yet again).
http://minorityreporter.net/how-easily-we-forget-an-historic-opportunity-is-slipping-away/
The rhetoric sounds good regarding “fighting for justice, not because we have any assurance of seeing it, but because it is the right thing to do. It is what redeems our humanity.” Of course, we don’t have assurance, but WE sure as heck intend to win. I don’t know about your idea of “redeeming our humanity.” I’m not quite sure as to what (specifically) that means. I feel no need to “redeem” mine. It’s always intact, but if that works for you _OK.
Also. it is important to keep the facts straight, e.g., you wrote that “de facto apartheid existed too in [your] backyard of New Orleans.” I’m sure you meant to state that, not only did it “exist too in [your] backyard of New Orleans,” but in fact, it still exists, and is steadily growing decades later, not only in New Orleans but in apartheid-like, racially segregated cities and towns throughout this thoroughly racist, white-supremacist-based nation-state (in every direction _ North, East, South and West _ https://time.com/6074243/segregation-america-increasing/ ).
https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/21/us/housing-segregation-cities-berkeley-study/index.html
There is no doubt that WE “cannot win unless [WE] remain committed.”
I have no reference point for understanding the idea that “one cannot remain committed unless one has a higher purpose than winning itself” — because, as noted previously, with regard to achieving justice, where those who are most oppressed and suffering the most are concerned, there is no higher purpose than winning. That is, either we’re going to have justice or we’re not. There is no in-between; no middle ground.
Clearly, it’s beyond time to tighten up our anti-racist philosophy and game, as opposed to advocating (even if inadvertently), for another four or five hundred years of chronic, unacceptable gradualism.
May peace and blessings be upon Bishop Tutu, and his loved ones.
The Struggle Continues…