"The United States has always maintained a white underclass .." Joe Baegent

[lib2DaBone]

Lost in The American Undertow

The United States has always maintained a white underclass — citizens whose role in the greater scheme of things has been to cushion national economic shocks through the disposability of their labor, with occasional time off to serve as bullet magnets in defense of the Empire.

Today, almost nobody in the social sciences seems willing to touch the subject of America’s large white underclass; or, being firmly placed in the true middle class themselves, can even agree that such a thing exists. Apparently, you can’t smell the rabble from the putting green.

Economic, political, and social culture in America is staggering under the sheer weight of its white underclass, which now numbers some sixty million. Generally unable to read at a functional level, they are easily manipulated by corporate-political interests to vote against advances in health and education, and even more easily mustered in support of any proposed military conflict, aggressive or otherwise.

One-third of their children are born out of wedlock, and are unemployable by any contemporary industrialized-world standard. Even if we were to bring back their jobs from China and elsewhere — a damned unlikely scenario — they would be competing at a wage scale that would not meet even their basic needs. Low skilled, and with little understanding of the world beyond either what is presented to them by kitschy and simplistic television, movie, and other media entertainments, or their experience as armed grunts in foreign combat, the future of the white underclass not only looks grim, but permanent.

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2011/04/american-undertow.html

-------------------------------

Kind of explains how people are covinced to vote against their own best interests.

[izquierdista]

1. But damn, are they proud

of being Rednecks.

For those not easily offended, cue up Randy Newman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nGw_vAnqPI

[RadiationTherapy]

2. Bob Dylan, 1964.

A South politician preaches to the poor white man
"You got more than blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin" they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
He's taught in his school
From the start by the rule
That the laws are with him
To protect his white skin
To keep up his hate
So he never thinks straight
'Bout the shape that he's in
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

From the powerty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoof beats pound in his brain
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.

(I respectfully omitted the first and last verses about Medger Evers to focus on the verses about poor whites.)

[bluestate10]

3. Reminds me of a few lines from the movie Mississippi burning.

About the poor sharecropper that was even poorer than a black farmer. The black farmer was able to buy a mule, which made him wealthier than the sharecropper. The sharecropper poisoned the mule and brought the black farmer back down to his level economically, but could not bring that man down morally. Upper classes throughout history have pitted lower classes against each other, race is simply a convenient wedge.

[anneboleyn]

5. Great example. Now the middle class is turning on each other about pensions, benefits

and so on while the rich pay no taxes, and sit back to watch the middle class brawl.

[Keith Bee]

15. while drinking champagne

"Look, dearest, that poor West Virginian is fighting a Latino for a can of beans. Such fun!"

[Curmudgeoness]

8. Yep, he could bring the black back down to his level, but

he could not bring himself up. And that is the way it always is, no matter how many times you hear "if you work hard, you can also be rich". God I hate that expression.

[Solomon]

4. This is why Martin had to go. He had moved on to economic

justice, worker's rights and poor people's campaigns. He was on his way to destroying their most effective wedge. Linking everybody together in the underclasses.

[eridani]

40. And Fred Hampton. He was assassinated shortly after making--

--some connections with Appalachian white kids in the Uptown area of Chicago. They'd heard about "Breakfasts for Children" and wanted Hampton's assistance in setting up something like that in their own neighborhood. What is it about the shortened life expectancies of black leaders who move toward serious cross-racial appeal?

[MedleyMisty]

6. I'm one of his people

A bit further south, but still Southern Appalachian white underclass.

And he's right - we were pretty damn socialist back in the day. Until the capitalists came and fucked us all up.

[xmas74]

10. I'm part of the white underclass.

I wouldn't call myself functionally illiterate but I know many who are. I have-that is, had-a set of job skills which once allowed me to provide for my family. Working in an office as a secretary used to be a semi-skilled position and allowed for some wages, decent insurance, etc. Nowadays, it barely pays over minimum wage and is often only part time work.

I've said for many years now that there is a hidden war-the war against the classes. It's becoming easier to identify every single day.

[provis99]

37. the Appalachians is different than the rest of the South.

They managed to avoid the warped culture that infests the tidewater and lowland areas of the South. There's really no hope in those areas: people would rather be poor and beat up on black people than climb out of poverty.

[MrScorpio]

7. Tim Wise talks a lot about this...

And how race and class is used to divide everyone in the underclass regardless of race.

[Curmudgeoness]

9. They have to keep them divided. If they would begin to cooperate

and work together, they would be a force too great to deal with. I wish they could see this.

[anneboleyn]

11. Great point. I wish I could see this too.

[bobbolink]

13. "THEY" *are* seeing this.

We ARE here... but we don't stack up against the great middleclass.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. Don't bet on it. It is a problem of organizing and working together

to a common goal. And I really do understand that when people are using all of their energy just on survival, there is nothing left to use. The people in poverty already scare the shit out of the middle class. The wealthy work hard at keeping them down. But there is power in their hands if they were to organize. I just don't see that happening at this time in history. My take on why it isn't happening is that they throw just enough crumbs (welfare programs, food stamps, subsidized housing, etc) to keep the poor from an uprising. This is all planned.

[bobbolink]

19. Yes, I AM "betting on it". I know that I AM HERE, and I know from my email that many others, are,

also.

But, unless the rest of you chose to hear us, we simply can't do it alone. Stop telling us it is OUR problem, and WE must "organize", when you could very well include us in YOUR organizing. It is time to stop blaming us. I know that is comforting, but it isn't REALITY.

"Solidarity".

Make it a reality.

[MrScorpio]

14. Here's his speech about White Privilege

He refers to the subject within in

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UJlNRODZHA

[anneboleyn]

16. thanks for the link, MrScorpio. I will check this out.

[bobbolink]

24. DYNAMITE! This is about the most powerful thing I have ever heard from DU.

I thank you profusely for turning me on to this!

:pals:

[bobbolink]

12. Could you suggest any books by this person?

Thanks!

[MrScorpio]

25. Here you go!

http://www.amazon.com/Tim-J.-Wise/e/B001ITVYTI/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1303073944&sr=1-1

[bobbolink]

31. Thanks!

Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male

:applause:

That rivals my previous favorite title... Conjectures Of A Guilty Bystander. ^_^

[ThomCat]

32. "White Like Me" is also a really great book.

It has a lot of impact and it's a great book for discussing with people to really get people talking and communicating.

[ljm2002]

17. That was well worth reading...

...I think now I'll have to go buy his books. He's a straight shooter.

[sasha031]

20. one of the best post and threads ever / thank you

spend to much time angry and dismayed at part of a population that keeps this country from progressing
and has us going backwards much of the time, because of the choices they make in political heads.

we keep hearing over and over again about the middle class.these Americans are never mentioned.

it saddens me, how the manipulation and lying to human beings never ends.

[bobbolink]

21. Another DUer recently wrote about this, and when the perception changed.

Unfortunately, I can't find the thread now.

I think this is very important in many ways, not the least of which when the issue of poverty is tied to color and race, it becomes easier to dismmiss.

Thanks so much! :yourock:

[sasha031]

23. you know what else is depressing

Tim Wise is giving an excellent understanding on this issue, and look at the comments:(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Xe1kX7Wsc&feature=related


how do you reach people when racism runs so deep.


Johnson and Bobby Kennedy I believe tried to address the underclass issue. after that it disappeared from the radar.

[bobbolink]

26. While ugly comments are depressing, the real KILLER is SILENCE.

The worst thing is being ignored. IGNORED. And that is what "progressives" are so good at doing.

So, here is another one for you... Sapphire Blue used to post this periodically, and it needs to be heard from time to time... I hope you will do so:

The Perils of Indifference by Elie Wiesel
http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/History/American-History/The-Perils-of-Indifference/7390

[sasha031]

27. thank you so much for posting this

:hi:

[bobbolink]

29. You are very welcome. I hope you will talk about it, and pass it on to others.

We do so much more harm with SILENCE.

As Wiesel says, even anger can be redemptive, but SILENCE... NEVER.

[MellowDem]

35. Really?

Who are these "progressives" you speak of? After all, quite a few of the poor and working class are progressives. Do they ignore themselves? Blaming progressives for the working class being ignored won't get you far, unless you like "divide and conquer" tactics.

Progressives in the US have little to no political power. Their only choice politically are Democrats, who are mostly conservative in economic outlook. You can't really blame progressives when they have no political power.

Are you not a progressive? Because the "progressives" you mention seem to me to be moderate Democrats, and I don't consider them to be progressives.

[bobbolink]

36. DU is billed as "progressive". Usually, with some exceptions, poverty threads get little attention.

"Progressive" media hardly EVER talk about poverty. It just isn't sexy.

The talk among "progressive" Democrats is all about the middleclass.


Your tone indicates you think very little of my experience, and that is fine.


I don't intend to argue, because "progressives" KNOW they are ignoring poverty, and it will bite them in the ass.

[MellowDem]

39. Well, your assumptions...

and tone more than show that you think very little of my experience and that you like to assume a lot.

Anyways, back on topic, what is "progressive" media? The ones that harp on the middle class over and over again are moderate Democrats.

It seems you are conflating the middle class democrats as being "progressives".

I do agree that ignoring poverty is a bad politicaly strategy, if that's what you are implying, but once again, moderate Democrats have been pushing the middle class thing.

The most glaring example of this is when it comes to school reform. People wonder why our schools are failing in "certain communities" and the answer is always the evil unionized teachers, when the real answer is of course the problems related to poverty, but no one wants to blame poverty, because fighting poverty is a lot harder to do than blaming teachers. I don't see progressives blaming teachers and pushing the current reform.

Who do you define as "progressive"? Because I define it as a certain set of beliefs, and in that sense it spans all classes. Many progressives are working class or poverty stricken.

[REP]

22. And most of these people self-identify as middle-class

Wake up, people. The middle-class is nearly extinct.

[Odin2005]

28. K&R +1,000,000,000,000

[eleny]

30. Rest in peace, Joe 1946-2011

I'm glad to learn that his Rainbow Pie is now finally available in the U.S.

K&R for one of America's best. He'll be greatly missed.

[Raksha]

33. Brilliant - Joe Bageant will be sorely missed.

[Raine]

34. Keep people pitted against each other

while they are picking everyone's pocket.

[madinmaryland]

38. Don't forget the decimation of America's Unions and Union Workers

over the last 40 years. There is no one to stand up for America's workers anymore. Everyone has become "at-will".

[Kablooie]

41. If Jed Clampett can raise his station in life, others can too.

Heck, he even got his own TV show.