The
Race Question
An
Interview with Wolf Larsen
from the book Capitalism Sucks
Question:
So what do you think of race in America?
Answer:
Well, it doesn't matter what color a man is because white, black, or brown all
men are ugly. It doesn't matter what
color a woman is after you turn off the light.
And it doesn't matter what color the President is because all these
politicians stink the same. (Laughs)
However, more seriously, race in America is bizarre. I don't even know where to begin!
Q.
What do you think of black politicians?
A. They do all the same rotten things that the
white politicians do. The main
differences is that black politicians foster illusions in the capitalist
system. But basically these black
politicians carry out the bidding of the rich and powerful just like the white
politicians.
Q.
What do you think of the black experience?
A. Well, anyone who has read their history knows
that it's been brutal. Black people in
the United States have experienced four centuries of brutal racist oppression! Anyone with eyes can see that black people
continue to suffer oppression under this racist system – or at least most black
people continue to be oppressed under this racist system. The fact that black people continue to be
oppressed today can be traced back to the fact that the Democratic Party ended Reconstruction. Had the Democrats not ended Reconstruction black
people might have achieved economic and political equality with white people in
the 19th century! So you can blame the
Democrats for the fact that black people continue to be oppressed today.
Q.
But isn't it true that many whites are oppressed as well?
A. That's very true. At this very moment many white people are
losing their jobs and being evicted out into the street with all these foreclosures. Many white people are working for minimum
wage. Many whites cannot afford their
copayments and therefore have to do without medical care. Things are very difficult for many white
people in the United States of America, whether people realize it or not. However, things are even more difficult for
the majority of blacks. Under capitalism
the working class and poor whites suffer – the working class and poor blacks
suffer even more.
Q.
You point out that black people have had a very difficult history in the United
States. But isn't it true that many
working-class whites have also had a difficult history in the United States?
A. Undoubtably both working class whites and
blacks have had a very difficult experience in the capitalist United States of
America. The cotton that was picked by
black sharecroppers in the South was put on trains and brought up to New
England where some of my ancestors worked in the textile mills. My great-grand-uncle began working in the
textile mills when he was nine years old.
My great-grand-uncle at the age of nine was working in the textile mills
12 hours a day six days a week. Another
case in point is the Irish. When the
slave trade was banned the ships that had been used for slavery were sent to Ireland
where they picked up the Irish immigrants.
One out of every seven of those immigrants died in the passage. The Anglo-Saxon landowners back in Ireland
exported food from Ireland while the Irish Catholic people were starving. When the Irish Catholics came here to America
they were viciously discriminated against by many of the Anglo-Saxons
here. It's ironic that many people blame
the Jews for everything, when in fact our country is being run mostly by a
bunch of Anglo-Saxons. However, for
every pillage and plunder rich Anglo-Saxon on Wall Street there's many many
more Anglo-Saxons making minimum wage.
So you have to keep it all in perspective. All working-class people of all colors and
backgrounds are victims of the capitalist system. But however horrible the experience of
working-class white Americans has been in the United States the black
experience has been much worse. Our
ancestors may have come here because they were starving to death. However, we must remember that the Africans
who were forced to come here were not starving to death back in the old world –
they were brought here in chains. And
for centuries they were not even paid for their work! It is important to understand that black
people – or most black people – in this country have suffered and continue to
suffer a double oppression. As workers
they suffer oppression, all of the same oppression that white workers suffer. But in addition to all that blacks suffer the
oppression of the racist American color cast system. That system may not be written into laws
anymore, but it still exists in many ways.
It's important that white workers understand this and always stand
united with the black worker against all aspects of racial oppression. It's also very important that black workers
understand that white workers have many of the same concerns that black workers
have – concerns like unemployment, quality affordable housing, quality public
schools for their children, etc. Black workers must understand that the people
who benefited from the slave trade and slavery were a privileged elite of
whites. For example, the first time many
northern whites ever saw black people was when they walked onto the plantations
of the South in Union Civil War uniforms and said, "You're
free". In the South the slave
system was beneficial only to a small minority of white people who enriched themselves
at the expense of black free labor. Most
whites in the South were actually hurt by slavery. How can you demand better wages from your
employer when you might be replaced with a slave who works for free? The slave owners manipulated the rest of the
Southern whites against the black people in order to continue slavery and later
sharecropping. The fact is most whites
in the South had nothing to gain and everything to lose if slavery had
continued. For this reason the Union
victory in the Civil War was not only beneficial to blacks, but it was also
beneficial to most southern whites, whether they realized it or not. After all, how are you supposed to compete
with free slave labor?!
Q.
So how do we end the racial oppression of black people?
A. First, black people have to realize that the
capitalist system has nothing to offer them except more misery and racism. This government was founded by slaveholders
and slave traders. This government will
always keep most black people down. And
if some black faces crawl up to high places (like they become politicians and
judges and CEOs of big corporations) those black faces in high places will
become collaborators in the racist system.
Those black faces in high places will help keep most black people down,
just like the white faces in high places.
The only solution is to throw the whole racist capitalist system in the
garbage can! The only solution is to
smash the racist bourgeois government, and replace it with a workers
government. A workers government will
institute socialism. Under socialism
everyone will have the right to a job.
The minimum wage will be doubled.
Everyone will have the right to free quality child care, affordable
decent housing, free medical care, etc. This will be beneficial to white
workers and black workers. This will be
beneficial to white poor people and black poor people. Under socialism no one will be poor unless
they're too lazy to work. There will be no
billionaires or multimillionaires. This
will be great for most black people.
Everyone will have the right to a free quality education. Education spending per student will be equal
in all schools across the nation. That
is, black students will receive the same quality education as white students. Everyone, white or black will have the same
chance in life. Under socialism, if you
are smart and hard-working you will be able to achieve great things. Nobody will face the kind of obstacles that
both poor whites and blacks face today.
College education will be free for all.
Q.
What do you think of affirmative action?
A. I favor affirmative action under certain circumstances,
but not all. I think there will probably
be a certain amount of affirmative action under socialism until blacks have
economic parity with whites, and women have economic parity with men. However, hard work, personal abilities, and
seniority will be very important factors in determining who receives promotions
under socialism. When promotions are
based on seniority and skills more black people rise to high positions. However, when promotion is decided by some capitalist
boss or manager it seems that black people remain behind. This is what I have noticed from my own employment
experience. When there is a strong
powerful union there are more black faces in high positions. Having a strong powerful union makes it more
difficult for some boss to discriminate against blacks. Basing promotions on seniority is good for
women workers too, because it helps eliminate gender discrimination. Basing promotions on seniority makes many
white male workers happy as well, because they don't have to worry about some
back-stabbing ass-kisser being promoted to a better job before them.
Q.
So it seems like you're in favor of some mixture of seniority and affirmative
action – am I correct?
A. Yes.
But let's remember that President Richard Nixon was at least at one
point in favor of affirmative action.
Richard Nixon liked affirmative action not because he liked black
people, but because he wanted to undermine unions and because in union jobs
there was often a strong emphasis on seniority as a means of promotion. Richard Nixon was no dummy, and in supporting
affirmative action part of his game was to drive a wedge between minorities and
organized labor. And as I just pointed
out basing promotion on seniority is an excellent way to make sure that the
playing field is equal for blacks.
Seniority as a means of advancement is an excellent way to make sure
there's no discrimination against blacks in giving out work and
promotions. However, if two persons have
roughly equal amounts of seniority then I favor affirmative action. But if someone has been on the job for two
years and somebody else has been on the job for two months obviously the
promotion should go to the person who's been on the job longer, as long as they
are competent and have a good work ethic.
Seniority is good. Where
seniority is a strong factor in advancement black people are more likely to get
their fair share of the good jobs. As
far as affirmative action in education is concerned affirmative action should
not be an issue, because all colleges should have open admissions. That means anybody white or black who
finishes high school should be allowed to go to college. If someone needs to take remedial classes
than they need to take remedial classes.
But everyone should be allowed to go to any college they choose, except
for perhaps a medical college where there may be special criteria besides just
finishing high school or getting a GED.
Q.
But wouldn't the quality of education go down if there were open admissions?
A. No. My
alma mater is CCNY or City College of New York.
CCNY has open admissions. CCNY
has had more Noble Prize winners among its alumni than all of the Ivy League
colleges on the East Coast combined.
Q.
What do you think of black nationalism?
A. I would have to say that today's black
nationalists fill me with disgust. At
times they seem to act like Nazi storm troopers outside of Korean grocery
stores. I have seen black nationalists act
like fascistic thugs when they encounter interracial couples. I have been witness to the bullying thuggish
behavior of groups of young men influenced by black nationalism and white
supremacy. It seems like these black
nationalists and white supremacist thugs need to be in groups in order to beat
up one man. They are truly
pathetic. However, I do not equate black
nationalism with fascism. However, it is
disgusting the way that thugs influenced by black nationalism act out in a
manner similar to white supremacist fascists.
But again I'm not saying that the black nationalists are fascists. However, both whites and blacks must have the
right to defend themselves against these black nationalist and white
supremacist thugs. I realize that not
all black nationalists are thugs, perhaps most of them are not. But much of their race hate speech seems to
influence the behavior of thugs. It
seems like not since the Black Panthers and Malcolm X has there been a decent
black nationalist. The Black Panthers
were courageous defenders of the Second Amendment and the right of blacks to
defend themselves against the racist violence of the bourgeois government. Malcolm X often told the truth about some
things – like the nature of politicians.
Malcolm X had nothing good to say about any politician white or
black. And Malcolm X said, "When
you vote Democrat you vote Dixiecrat!"
I guess they don't make black nationalists like they used to. Anyway, within black nationalism there are
inherent problems. Black people are now
the third largest group in this
country – after Latinos. If black
workers do not unite with white and Latino workers then the black workers will
be weaker. Either the white and black
and Latino workers unite together, or divided the white and black and Latino workers
will continue to be oppressed by the bourgeoisie. If black workers are sick and tired of a
racist capitalist system of unemployment, low wages, inferior housing, inferior
education than they are simply going to have to throw capitalism in the garbage
can. In order to do that they have to
unite with all workers of all colors.
Black nationalism – like white supremacy – is against white, black, and
Latino workers being united. When black, white, and Latino workers unite and do
things together we can accomplish a lot.
Maybe one day workers of all races united together will throw capitalism
in the garbage can and replace it with socialism.
My video White, Black, and Brown Workers Unite!" from my YouTube channel SucksCapitalism.
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