When he [Cone] talks about defeating whiteness, he does not mean white-skinned people, but rather a system of racially-based oppression. And when he talks about black people, he means people who live under conditions of poverty and oppression. This is what he means, I think, when he says that Jesus was black or that any God worth believing in must be part of the black community and against whiteness. Given how he defines his terms, I agree.
(via Rick Esenberg at Shark and Shepherd, Jeremiah was a prophet?)
Update:
...as David Gilmour points out in The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling, the word "white" [in The White Man's Burden] "plainly refers to civilization and character more than to the colour of men's skins. The 'white men' are those who conduct themselves within the Law for the good of others: Gunga Din may have a 'dirty' hide, but he is 'white, clear white, inside.'"
--Roger Kimball, "Rudyard Kipling unburdened", The New Criterion, April 2008
Sure.
ReplyDeleteSo let's define night as day while we're at it.