Reply #151: Step ONE is to address classism? How long do Blacks and Gays wait?

[ultraist]

bold added

What I believe is that we have an ever greater group of people about 98% of this country of all colors which need to come together against the aristocracy which contorls money, power and influence we can't even imagine. Thats step one, once you conquer that then and only then will the 98% of us who have more incommon then we realize be able to make real change towards racism in the US.

Why do we have to address classism FIRST? Why not address all of the issues, rather than put some on the back burner? It's not a matter of having to choose ONE issue. How long should Gays wait to have their issues addressed?Why do you think we have to CHOOSE ONE ISSUE ONLY?

Furthermore, there are interlocking effects of the various forms of oppression. Being Black and Gay for instance, or being Female and lower income, or being upper income and Black. You cannot seperate out classism and focus on this FIRST and IGNORE RACISM, SEXISM, AND HOMOPHOBIA.

They are different issues with some parallels as they are all forms of oppression, yet, each has distinct ways in which it manifests and targets specific groups.

Why choose classism as the FIRST STEP? That would benefit mostly whites. Why base it on a quantitative approach, raw numbers in the majority? If that's the case Gays have a looooong wait to have their issues addressed as they are approximately 10% of the population. That's absurd!

That's what they told Blacks during Civil Rights movement and women during the Women's rights movement, "just wait, someday we will address your concerns."

Sorry, TIMES UP! NO MORE WAITING. We don't HAVE to choose one or the other.

Please read Dean's statement on Black History month where he encourages us to continue to discuss racism and address the social injustices that Blacks face.