i haven’t touched it in a while. there is soooo much evidence. During the great mississippi flood, they first blew those levees to save the white community at the expense of people of color. Plessy vs. Furguson was passed in new orleans and in the years before the hurricane, it had become more segregated than it was during legal segregation or slavery. most people of color lived on the land furthest below sea level–this was where the gov’t housing was built. in the 1970s, the n.o. blk panther party office was shot up by police (who were dressed in disguise as priests). and the list goes on and on.

I call it post or neo because the old theory addressed the issue prior to the end of legal segregation, the passage of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act and the gains made through affirmative action. Given all that it is hard to really make an argument because they will say how is the dominate society segregated when legal segregation is against the law.

neo-internal colonization applies because in this country classism is a taboo subject because of the “American Dream” myth. We have put a facade that this country is classless. Ask any immigrant who comes here and they will tell you they came here because they have bought into the notion that this is the “land of opportunity.” And if anybody (citizens and immigrants) didn’t “make it” here it was your fault for not taking advantage of all the tools that are available to you. And we are reminded of this every single day, whenever we enter an educational institution, purchasing a house and/or a car or any business, and every government facility we enter. We are remind of this through the “equal opportunity clause” that is posted in the open for everybody to see in those places.

Not only are we reminded of it, we also told how it is possible through the old “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” and the “I did it, so can you!” argument. So look at Obama, he made it and so did Condi Rice, Powell, Oprah and the list can go on. There is no problem letting a few through, because you can maintain control by making the rest feel guilty.

Right after Katrina, how often did we hear they deserved it or because they are unemployed it is because they chose to live that way. So to answer your question, yes, in my view, internal colonization does include having people believe that they are somehow deserving of that situation.

I told them I am sorry, I just cannot buy into that. It is hard to have a full discussion when the first premise is to dismiss the entire argument; and two, buying into that argument creates nothing more but a slippery slope because the threshold for allowing “insensitive” continues to be pushed back.

I am come on, at what point are we allowed to call it or can we. I further went on to say Should we put a numerical value to on the number of statements said to define a racist from an insensitive ass. Or, do we just follow the logic all democrats are just insensitive assholes, however, when Repukes do it, hey they are racist.

But what happens when a Repuke decides to become a Democrat, how does that work out?

But what really got me was, the implied statement about how we should be worried about the next election and getting a winner in to clean up the mess from the war that the President sent us to. That translate into, you issue is not important boy. If that is the argument they wanted to take up, I was willing to bite on the bait and switch.

For one it was not the President who sent us to war, it was both houses of Congress who sent us to war the minute they gave Bush carte blanche to take the country to war against Iraq whenever he felt like it. The same dems we are wanting to put into place. They were not lied too, they were was lazy to investigate the truth for themselves if they were so willing to dismiss their fellow Dems who stood up against the war. The fact that these Dems are saying they were lied too is just a cop out because they have far more resources than we would ever have to figure out what Byrd, Feingold, Kennedy and Kucinich were rambling about at that time. In all honesty the Dems did not trust US to have their backs. What the Democratic Party does not have the courage to admit to is that they think we the voters are to gullible and will believe anything that comes out of that Administration. And as long as they think that, it will always be business as usual.

As long as will have this need to “pick winners” at what point can stop from being threatened and start addressing the real issues. I guess I should put it this way, how do I have to wait in the back of the line?

“The message is a painful reminder, not only to African Americans, but also to all people of color of the extent of white society’s commitment to white supremacy. Biden’s, as a white man and representing this country’s power elite, message implied, if we strongly hope to achieve the “American Dream” we must become like Obama who is capable of using the proper subject/verb agreement, not look and act so “ghetto” so “barrio” or “rancho” – all forms of internal colonialism.”

I’ve never heard people write of internal colonization as a term meaning internalized white supremacy until blogland. I think it works. I just always knew it to mean the theory that communities of color in the U.S. are treated in the same way as ‘Third World’ countries. They are used for cheap labor, etc. etc. I guess internal colonialism must include that thu–people living in internal colonies of the U.S. have to be made to believe that they are somehow deserving of that situation (whether it is a “ghetto,” a “barrio” or a prison) and hegemony flourishes. or maybe this is how you are using it?…

Anyways, this subject reminds me of that Malcolm X speech when he defined what it was to be a “field nigger.” The “house nigger” was willing to learn the ropes of teh white world to get a little priviledge, he played the game, he thought it was the only way. I think about this whenever I consider applying to grad school. Do I want to play the game? My degree only means something in the house, not in the field, so why bother? And then we are surprized that these ghetto parties happen in “higher education.” Isn’t institutional education (historically) the house? I don’t know. I have to think more on this…