{"id":15269,"date":"2011-07-31T21:19:19","date_gmt":"2011-07-31T21:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/wordpress\/?p=15269"},"modified":"2013-09-09T04:13:22","modified_gmt":"2013-09-09T04:13:22","slug":"debate-are-the-americas-%e2%80%98sick-with-racism%e2%80%99-or-is-it-a-problem-at-the-poles-a-reply-to-christina-a-sue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=15269","title":{"rendered":"Debate: Are the Americas \u2018sick with racism\u2019 or is it a problem at the poles? A reply to Christina A. Sue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Debate: Are the Americas \u2018sick with racism\u2019 or is it a problem at the poles? A reply to Christina A. Sue<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ethnic and Racial Studies<\/a>
\nVolume 32, Issue 6<\/a> (July 2009)
\nSpecial Issue: Making Latino\/a Identities in Contemporary America
\npages 1071-1082
\nDOI: 10.1080\/01419870902883536<\/a><\/p>\n

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva<\/a><\/strong>, Professor of Sociology
\nDuke University<\/em><\/p>\n

Christina A. Sue<\/a> commented on my 2004 article in Ethnic and Racial Studies<\/em> on the Latin Americanization of racial stratification in the USA. Almost all her observations hinge on the assumption that racial stratification in Latin American countries is fundamentally structured around \u2018two racial poles\u2019. I disagree with her and in my reply do three things. First, I address three major claims or issues in her comment. Second, I point out some methodological limitations of Americancentred race analysis in Latin America. Third, I conclude by discussing briefly the Obama<\/a> phenomenon and suggest this event fits in many ways my Latin Americanization thesis.<\/p>\n

\n

The Americas are sick with racism, blind in both eyes from North to South.
\n(Eduardo Galeano<\/a> 2000, p. 56)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since I unveiled my Latin Americanization thesis in 2001, I have received plenty of critical feedback \u0001 some negative, but mostly positive. Accordingly, I welcome Christina Sue\u2019s comment. Although we see race matters in both Americas quite differently \u0001 I believe the Americas are \u2018sick with racism\u2019 and Sue seems to believe racism is a problem at the \u2018racial poles\u2019 \u0001 our exchange may stimulate further debate about the racial question in Latin America and the USA.<\/p>\n

In this rejoinder I do three things. First, I address some of Sue\u2019s criticisms. Second, I advance several methodological observations orthogonally related to Sue\u2019s comments. Third, I briefly tackle the big elephant in the contemporary American racial room (the election of a black man as president) and suggest it fits my Latin Americanization thesis…<\/p>\n

…First, Obama, like most politicians in the Americas, worked hard during the campaign at making a nationalist, post-racial appeal. Second, like some racially mixed leaders in the Americas, Obama was keen to signify the peculiar character of his \u2018blackness\u2019 (his half-white, half-black background) and the provenance of his blackness (his father hailed from Kenya and in the USA African blackness is perceived as less threatening). Obama has cultivated an outlook where his \u2018blackness\u2019 is more about style than political substance; Obama is the \u2018cool\u2019, exceptional black man not likely to rock the American racial boat. Third, Obama has exhibited an accommodationist stand on race (Street 2009). In a speech in Selma, Alabama<\/a>, he stated the USA was \u201890% on the road to racial equality\u2019 (Obama 2007) and continued this path in his so-called \u2018race speech\u2019 (Obama 2008). Fourth, whites see Obama as a \u2018safe black\u2019 who, unlike traditional black politicians, will not advocate race-based social policy. Fifth, Obama will formulate \u2018universal\u2019 (class-based) policies that are unlikely to remedy racial inequality (Obama 2004). Sixth, his election, in conjunction with other developments in the last decades, evinces the ascendance to political power (with a small \u2018p\u2019) of \u2018neo-mulattos<\/a>\u2019 (Horton and Sykes 2004), will exacerbate the existing colour-class divide within the black community, and reinforce \u2018multiculturalist white supremacy\u2019 (Rodr\u00edguez 2008)…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Read the entire article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Debate: Are the Americas \u2018sick with racism\u2019 or is it a problem at the poles? A reply to Christina A. Sue Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 32, Issue 6 (July 2009) Special Issue: Making Latino\/a Identities in Contemporary America pages 1071-1082 DOI: 10.1080\/01419870902883536 Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor of Sociology Duke University Christina A. Sue commented on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,63,21,14646,8,26,394,20],"tags":[702,6169,3625,319,461],"class_list":["post-15269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-barack-obama","category-latincarib","category-latino","category-media-archive","category-politics","category-socialscience","category-usa","tag-christina-a-sue","tag-christina-alicia-sue","tag-christina-sue","tag-eduardo-bonilla-silva","tag-ethnic-and-racial-studies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15269\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}