Comments on: We are still living in Moynihan's moment.

We are still living in Moynihan's moment.

graymouser — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:06:55 -0800

Coates sees the mass incarceration of African Americans as the "national action" that America chose to undertake to address the problems Moynihan described. Moynihan's framing of poverty as a problem of black families—of black people—has enabled political leaders for half a century to look away from restitution and towards punishment as a way to address social problems. We are still living in Moynihan's moment.

The Moynihan Report Resurrected, by Sam Klug

The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration by Ta-Nehesi Coates Race Is Always the Issue by Tressie McMillan Cottom Moynihan's Anti-Feminism by Daniel Geary Previously.

By: Splunge

Splunge — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:23:12 -0800

Thanks for reminding me why I always despised Moynihan.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:33:58 -0800

> By arguing that "the main problem was not African American inequality, but intemperate discussions of race," Moynihan left little room for his earlier call to "national action." "The problem is that our policies are all talk and no action. The solution is clear; stop talking."

By: thetortoise

thetortoise — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:38:54 -0800

The original report can be read online (without graphics) here.

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 10:51:59 -0800

The lens of race has blinded people of all races and political persuasion to the problems of poverty. Most poor people in the US are white and the problems of poverty largely overlap with the problems of structural racism. I don't believe we can solve one without solving the other.

By: You Can't Tip a Buick

You Can't Tip a Buick — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:08:29 -0800

> The lens of race has blinded people of all races and political persuasion to the problems of poverty. Most poor people in the US are white and the problems of poverty largely overlap with the problems of structural racism. I don't believe we can solve one without solving the other. posted by Mental Wimp at 10:51 AM on January 19 [+] [!] Alternately, under white supremacist patriarchal capitalism race and gender are used as markers that indicate that the people with the wrong race and/or the wrong gender are available for hyperexploitation beyond the ordinary forms of capitalist exploitation. People with analyses that tend to focus on class-based oppression as the sole form of oppression, or as the form of oppression that subtends all other forms of oppression, would do well to look into David Harvey's work on what Marx calls "primitive accumulation." Harvey takes up this Marxian concept, but renames it "accumulation by dispossession." He does this to highlight how there is nothing primitive about primitive accumulation; it happens side-by-side with the types of exploitation that Marx spends the bulk of Capital Volume 1 discussing, and is as crucial to the operation of capitalist wealth concentration and poverty manufacture as those other conventional types of exploitation are. I believe Harvey derives the idea that primitive accumulation isn't "primitive" but instead an ongoing crucial part of capitalist processes from Rosa Luxemburg, but I haven't read Luxemburg in years and years and was too young to get much out of her writing when I read it. I agree with you when you say that we can't solve one without solving the other. Because capitalism depends on white supremacist and patriarchal hyperexploitation, ending white supremacy (and patriarchy) are likely necessary for the dismantlement of capitalism. I would, though, disagree with the claim that the "lens of race" blinds people. Understanding white supremacist practices is necessary to avoid being blinded; this is because understanding capitalism requires understanding white supremacy.

By: Navelgazer

Navelgazer — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:09:11 -0800

Here's how this is playing out in NY now.

By: Mental Wimp

Mental Wimp — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 11:27:57 -0800

I would, though, disagree with the claim that the "lens of race" blinds people. I meant it in the sense that poverty and racial problems get conflated ("poverty is a black issue" and "black people's main problem is poverty") and so neither are accurately understood nor can be addressed properly.

By: resurrexit

resurrexit — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 12:58:08 -0800

I'm seeing quite a shift in reliance on Moynihan in conservative intellectual circles. Or, rather, it's not a shift away from Moynihan so much as a broadening of his thesis (see here and here for examples). There is a recognition that these same problems that plagued the black family in the 1960s are now problems for just "the family" in general. So the racial element is absent, and the focus is more on social/class, economic, and cultural trends.

By: feckless fecal fear mongering

feckless fecal fear mongering — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 15:50:27 -0800

Those are dogwhistles.

By: Etrigan

Etrigan — Tue, 19 Jan 2016 16:06:45 -0800

Dogwhistles and #AllLivesMatter obfuscation.

By: kliuless

kliuless — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 09:54:25 -0800

Ta-Nehisi Coates: "The spectacle of a socialist opposing reparations as 'divisive' is only rivaled by Sanders posing as a pragmatist" Killer Mike: "I love the writings of @tanehisicoates. I am very curious why every one thinks his critique of Sanders of some kind of death nail."

By: avalonian

avalonian — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 14:45:07 -0800

All of TNC's critiques of Sanders go equally towards Hilary and the Democratic party at large. Doubly, triply, and exponentially moreso the further right one goes. I saw TNC's critiques as a necessary focus on how even the furthest left our nation is willing to go, white supremacy is still very much the water.

By: mikelieman

mikelieman — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 03:31:20 -0800

Ta-Nehisi Coates - My hope was to talk to Sanders directly, before writing this article. I reached out repeatedly to his campaign over the past three days. The Sanders campaign did not respond. I think it boils down to incrementalism v. radicalism and how there's a duty to push the boundaries to keep things fresh. I would love to see them talk this out.