Re: [Marxism] Has anyone measured racism in the USA?

[Greg McDonald <sabocat59@xxxxxxx>]

Nestor wrote:

<If interracial marriages gather enough momentum, a moment shoudl come
when institutionalized racism can become a social issue. And not to be
solved by "politically correct" language, or by "separate development"
AKA "multiculturalism", but by the destruction of the social bases of
racial segregation...>

I second Mark's response. The weight of institutional, or structural  
racism, far outweighs people's personal choices regarding marriage or  
any number of other personal choices, such as whether or not to vote  
for a black candidate.

In terms of the labor market, the ranks of the working underclass is  
now being filled primarily by immigrant labor, with black and white  
lumpen elements mixed in to some degree. I'm not so sure about the  
reserve labor force per se, but it's probably a mix as well. But  
since Latino immigrant workers have moved to fill the demand for  
cheap labor, we see all the institutional weight reinforcing the  
color line and the dual labor market brought to bear to shore up the  
situation for the benefit of the employer. Thus we have ICE acting as  
modern-day pinkertons in situations where unionizing efforts threaten  
to undercut the line of demarcation for the dual labor market. This  
is the real threat to the system at the moment. Interesting that ICE  
even raided union offices in Hartford just the other day.

One would think that Obama, or his multi-racial coalition, would  
begin to address some of these issues. But that would perhaps be too  
much to ask for a mainstream candidate. If Obama wins, and the  
coalition remains intact, then some real movement could happen, but  
it would require quite a bit of pressure from below. It would require  
a new civil rights movement taking up where King left off before he  
was shot, on the picket line with striking workers trying to forge a  
poor people's movement.

Greg McDonald

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