"Read Settlers" is a meme, but it's also a true meme. You should read it, or read other things about this thesis regarding the white working class in the US (I've heard other Marxists have since improved on Sakai's thesis but I don't know who they are).

White Americans are doubling down on the racism. As white settler colonialism is starting to face just a little bit of opposition (like teaching kids that maybe the US isn't a perfect, God-blessed country), they are losing their minds over the idea of losing even a tiny bit of their privileges. This is still a perfectly material explanation. White folks have enjoyed an incredible level of privilege since the beginning of this country and they will fight viciously to keep all of it.

IMO the bulk of white Americans are a lost cause. Not to say white folks can't be revolutionary (I'm white), but I think we probably should be spending our very limited time and resources on folks outside the imperial core break from western imperialism, and focus on the oppressed within the core. Any white Americans who want to join in are welcome but any concession to white supremacy is unacceptable.

Edit: to clarify, I'm not saying the Dems lost because racism or whatever. I don't care if the Dems win or lose, it doesn't matter. My point is much more about using electoral results and the campaigns that precede them to see where winds are blowing. It seems that "CRT" and fear-mongering about crime (and thus the need to fund even more cops) was a very effective message in appealing to large segments of the population - particularly the white population.

    • Quimby [any, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      To an extent. I try to use my resources to help others, for example, by housing trans people and SA survivors rent-free. But it's also a balancing act because completely impoverishing myself would not only be unwise in a country with no safety net, but would also likely limit my ability to do good in the long term.

      So the point of my comment was essentially to say that while I try to do praxis and help right now, I would be happy to give up much more as part of broader societal reforms that may necessitate it. But me giving up my house absent those sweeping changes won't do any good.

      That's just the trap of "you're a socialist yet you have money" vs "you're a socialist because you don't have money so you must just be jealous." Which is never a good argument.