Ronald Walters

THE CRITICALITY OF RACISM

racism has escaped such spokespersons or that they are oblivious to the pervasiveness of its existence or are dedicated to an ideological direction which strengthens the legal and practical regime of white racial privilege. Therefore, it is necessary to point out in this debate that racism not only exists, but that despite the material progress of the black middleclass, they and poorer blacks are still subject to the daily ravages of its power to oppress them in various ways. I will forego presenting a textbook definition of racism and instead define it by illustration below with some brief examples of the comprehensive ways in which it exists; in most instances, utilizing sources easily available to the average individual. In doing so, I assert that racism is so pervasive that it exists both in its intentional form as well as within programs such as affirmative action, designed to bring racial recompense.

The Impact of Bell Curve Ideology on African American Public Policy

This work analyzes the public policy focus of The Bell Curve, suggesting that the objective of the authors in attempting to empirically validate the theorized intellectual inferiority of African Americans is to substantiate their unworthiness for governmental support in the form of such programs as affirmative action. Drawing on previous research related to the American eugenics movement and the biological inferiority ideologies of the Nazi era, I draw parallels to modern attempts by those involved in a current “White nationalists” movement to engage in racial scapegoating and to discipline the distributive functions of government in ways that disempower those they consider to be members of “unworthy” populations. I conclude that this course will logically result in increased social/racial tensions, leading perhaps to a renewal of racial violence.

The Realities Underlying a Black Presidential Candidacy

There are two sources of the recent attempt to mount a black presidential candidacy, both rooted in the Chicago mayoral election of Harold Washington, the first black mayor in that citys history. First, the Washington campaign illustrated that a black candidacy could bring formerly politically inactive people into the electoral process and could make politics take on a relevance and urgency for those who had previously seen little connection between elections and their own lives. It also showed that participation by people who usually opt out of the system could change election outcomes. Harold Washingtons campaign induced many blacks to register for the first time and stimulated a very large black turnout that led to Washingtons victory.

The Nuclear Arming Of South Africa

devastating rebellions which recently occurred in South Africa, leaving untold numbers of blacks either dead or wounded are a painful and tragic, yet necessary reminder of the human stakes in the Southern African situation. As the tempo of the southward movement of the revolution heightens and the issues in Namibia, Zimbabwe and Azania come clearly into focus, it should be underlined once again, that both in terms of the classic dimensions of political analysis and the specific conditions of these African peoples, the southern African situation is a revolutionary situation. The fresh rebellions inside South Africa are evidence of the existence of revolutionary activity. If the level of struggle against white repression were left at this crude stage we could not understand the relationship between the rebellions and a continuing revolution. However, the existence of African political parties, and African military forces in the contested areas illustrates that the activity we witness is not based on mere reformist opposition to the practices of the regimes, but upon the fact that blacks have raised up African nationalism to combat white settler nationalism with the ultimate objective being the replacement of one for another. The resort to violent revolution as a means to achieve African self-determination is a legitimate strategy, but perhaps has been most necessary where colonialism from a European country was administered through a significant white settler community such as in Algeria, Kenya, Angola, Rhodesia and South Africa. In all of these places, a repressive colonialism, combined with an intransigent and ruthless local settler community has fostered nationalism expressed by a revolutionary movement. The fact which concerns us, however, is that although on the one hand, the white settlers of Rhodesia and South Africa fear the use of revolutionary tactics by blacks, they are also bolstered in their opposition and intransigence by powerful third party states such as the United States. U.S. policy is, therefore, critical to understand as an element in the response of white settler regimes to the revolutionary situation in Southern Africa.