(2016/06/03) In the shadow of slavery (Racism)
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2016
⏱️ 72 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Edition #1018
Today we take a look at the structures of racism in the US, who put them there, the problems they cause and what we might do to dismantle them
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Show Notes
Ch. 1: Opening Theme: A Fond Farewell - From a Basement On the Hill
Ch. 2: Act 1: Blinded by the White: The Myth of Meritocracy - Majority Report (@MajorityFM) - Air Date: 04-22-15
Ch. 3: Song 1: Work Horse - Infantree
Ch. 4: Act 2: Gateway to Freedom: Historian Eric Foner on the Hidden History of the Underground Railroad - @DemocracyNow - Air Date: 3-11-15
Ch. 5: Song 2: Underground Railroad - The Deedle Deedle Dees
Ch. 6: Act 3: Study On The Impact Of Nazi Propaganda - @TheYoungTurks - Air Date: 06-19-15
Ch. 7: Song 3: Discrimination - Ancel
Ch. 8: Act 4: Bryan Stevenson: Slavery never ended, it just evolved - Here and Now - Air Date 6-30-15
Ch. 9: Song 4: The Confrontation - Dan Romer & Benh Zeitlin
Ch. 10: Act 5: Heidi Beirich on White Supremacy and the Trump campaign - CounterSpin (@FAIRmediawatch) - Air Date 3-4-16
Ch. 11: Song 5: Racism - MYSTAFYA
Ch. 12: Act 6: Historian Eric Foner on the Elections, Reconstruction, and Racism Today - @theLFshow w @GRITlaura Flanders - Air Date 4-19-16
Voicemails
Ch. 13: Living with little and giving away - Eric from Alabama
Ch. 14: Thoughts on the NV Democratic Convention - Kirk in Los Vegas
Kirk's Nevada Convention video
Voicemail Music: Loud Pipes - Classics
Ch. 15: Final comments on what's more important than taking offense
Article: "I find this offensive": How "offense" discourse traps us into inaction
Closing Music: Here We Are - Everyone's in Everyone
Produced by Jay! Tomlinson
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I live in a state where Confederate Memorial Day is a state holiday, where Jefferson Davis's |
| 0:05.0 | birthday is a state holiday. |
| 0:07.2 | We do not have Martin Luther King Day in Alabama. |
| 0:09.2 | We have Martin Luther King's slash Robert E. Lee Day. |
| 0:16.6 | This program is made possible by the members and donors to the show. |
| 0:19.2 | If you'd like to support the work we're doing, please visit the Contribute tab at bestofaloft.com. |
| 0:23.8 | Now welcome to the award-winning Best of the Left podcast with Hoops today from the majority |
| 0:27.9 | report, Democracy Now, The Young Turks, Here and Now, Counterspin and The Loura Flanders Show. |
| 0:34.9 | In our society, in a society, let's just put this in general terms, in a society where |
| 0:44.0 | a certain group of people have been able to dominate, they set up what the definition |
| 0:53.6 | of merit is. |
| 0:56.6 | You cannot be superior to one person, cannot be superior to another person in a vacuum. |
| 1:06.1 | I mean, I cannot say I am superior to Matt in a vacuum. |
| 1:13.6 | I can say I am taller than Matt and I've now set up what the measure is. |
| 1:20.8 | We're going to measure who is better based upon height. |
| 1:24.7 | We're going to measure who is better based upon weight and it could be you weigh more, |
| 1:29.2 | you're better if you weigh less, you know, you're a sumo wrestler, you're doing better, |
| 1:33.8 | you're in better shape if you're bigger. |
| 1:38.3 | In the context of our society, white males have set up the entire definition of meritocracy. |
| 1:48.7 | So to say that people rise based upon their merit is not even enough because if you design |
| 1:58.1 | the meritocracy based upon what you happen to be best at, then the entire system is going |
| 2:09.1 | to produce the desired results. |
... |
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