The diversity issue has reared its head again within the Progressive blogosphere in the wake of the Yearly Kos convention, and the revelation that attendees were predominantly white and male. Not surprisingly, many of the A-List bloggers are aghast that anyone would dare accuse them of a failure to include their “less fortunate” blogging brethren. No one likes being told they may have a few prejudices still rattling around in their attic, least of all “bleeding heart” liberals who pride themselves on their tolerance, acceptance and “good will toward all.”
Indeed, its our own identification with the “downtrodden” among us that often prevents white progressives from recognizing that we also often employ stereotypes to exclude and marginalize minorities, even as we applaud our own “compassion.” Because we’re so quick to rail against the racism and bigotry of the right, we often fail to notice that we can be just as ignorant regarding people of color. Our faith in our supposedly superior qualities of empathy and understanding makes us unable to see that we can be just as hypocritical as our conservative cousins.
Well, for my money one of the best commentaries on this entire controversy comes from Latino Politico, the blog of Man Eegee, a long time Booman Tribune contributer. So without further ado, here’s Manny!
Lots of conversation is raging about the blog world and its diversity. Specifically, the lack of it. And here is where I would like to share some thoughts that are wafting around like clouds of smoke out of a pipe. I will let Jenifer Fernandez Ancona begin, by quoting the ending of her excellent commentary over at Open Left.
One of the key ways to build bridges is for people to get to know each other better, and to find where there is common ground across issues. A sense of community is built through ideological ties, but also personal ties. This is also why more diverse voices at the planning table of Netroots Nation is important, and why deliberately bringing together bloggers and Internet activists from all kinds of different backgrounds could be a central goal of the gathering.
But that kind of multi-racial coalition can only work if everyone — especially those with the biggest platforms who are considered leaders — is truly on board.
Now, if you go read the comments, you’ll see some defensive blow back by one the more prominent bloggers in the Progressive Blogosphere™. It’s not surprising since there’s been quite a bit of it displayed in all its glory this week. On the other side of the indignation coming from the most heavily-trafficked blogs are the beginnings of entreaties and conversation.
Only we’re already starting to see that we don’t speak the same language – even if we hold a lot of the same political values. So, how to move forward?
Well, speaking as a Latino and for me as a person, I agree with Jenifer that the first step is to have the blogs who have been coronated by the status quo as the official spokespeople to realize that there is a problem. The other piece that should be occurring simultaneously is a commitment to listening to what has always been going on outside of the Kos/MyDD/FireDogLake/Atrios/Digby realm of existence.
There are blogs out here that specifically write for audiences using our voices as people of color. As I wrote over the summer, however, none of us can (nor will) claim to be speaking for everyone within our demographic. But we are out here doing our thing. We might not have the street cred to warrant an invitation to debate on Meet the Press or anything, and maybe the question we should all ask, is why?
The ugly truth is that liberal white people have as many blind spots when it comes to minorities and minority concerns as conservative whites do. Which isn’t surprising, given the fact that no society that I know of on earth is completely free of in-group/out-group bias. Certainly American society is not. And getting defensive about charges that “liberal white bloggers” perhaps don’t always “get it” when it comes to the concerns of bloggers of color is not the correct response. The beginning of understanding is to listen to what minority bloggers are saying, and why they claim that “diversity” in the progressive blogosphere is an issue. You can’t understand where someone is coming from unless you open your ears to what that person has to tell you. Is that really all that revolutionary a concept?
Maybe the way to start this conversation is to ask people of color why a Latino like Markos is not thought of as a Latino. Just reading Manny’s comment above, it seems like he unconsciously excluded Markos from the ‘us’ that would like to be heard. What is it about Markos that makes people write about him like that?
My guess is that he doesn’t write about issues from an overtly Hispanic perspective. But maybe it is more than that.
There is a difference between being a blogger who is a latino and a latino blogger.
I consider the Bush Administration to be an incredibly biased government that stacks its system against minority populations – yet he has had two black Secretaries of State and an Hispanic Attorney General. See the disconnect?
excellent summary of a complicated point.
So, in this comparison, Markos is kind of like Condi Rice…
Not exactly. I’m saying that Condi Rice wouldn’t be in the position she’s in if she espoused the politics of Cynthia McKinney.
I give Kos some credit at times for noticing Latino issues, like when Jeb used the Mexican Flag in his commercial and Newt’s espanol.
But it is a rare event, to see big orange get in a knock-down-drag-out fight over Latino issues. And if you want see what manny is referring too, just look at big orange blog-roll and the Latino’s Politicos blog-roll. I only see Steve Soto on the orange blog-roll.
I get that point, but I’m not sure what that says about Markos. Are you saying that he purposively apes a non-Latino because to do otherwise would relegate him to McKinney-ville, or are you saying that he isn’t considered a Latino voice just because he doesn’t have an interest in Latino-specific issues?
Markos blogs as a partisan, not a latino. As he is just one voice of many at that platform, yet still prominent, it has created an environment that is partisan. That is what makes it palatable to the political class and the mainstream media. This actually speaks more to the overall status quo than the blogosphere, but for whatever reason (trying to define it and move beyond it is part of this discussion), the outcome is a readership that mirrors the unbalance found in society. We should be doing better than that.
Here’s an example of what I would characterize as a ‘step in the right direction’ – the addition of Terrance to the frontpage here. His writing provides a voice that allows us to directly confront the discrimination that is offered by a Congress that continues to ignore the plight of those in same-sex relationships. It’s one thing to blog about gay rights, but it’s another to give a platform firsthand to someone that can articulate it directly.
What I find strange is this divide between pastisanship and ethnic identity.
Daily Kos has featured, obviously Markos, but Armando (a Cuban living in Puerto Rico), Meteor Blades (who I believe is part Native-American), gay men, a plethora of women (now, anyway)…
But none of them has written much about their ethnic identity or sexual preferences.
There perspective is there, but it isn’t at the forefront of what they’re doing.
Whereas, Terrance, for example, is all about making his unique perspective the focal point of his activism.
And there are other bloggers doing the same. Who knew Digby was a woman before two months ago?
There’s a divide because to elect a Democrat is not the sure-fire way to advance the causes of marginalized communities. Many elections have been won by people supposedly on our side who choose to sell out our perceptions in order to garner victory.
Here’s an example: last year, I posted a diary here and at DKos denouncing the DCCC’s ad that juxtaposed border-crossers with terrorists. No matter how hard I tried to explain to some posters at DKos that it was offensive, they refused to listen. At some point, people give up and take their writing elsewhere. It’s a dismissiveness that is not worth bothering with. Single-issues to some are central to others.
Electing a Democrat is only a sure-fire way of doing one thing: not electing a Republican.
And if you voted for Richard Shelby or Ben Nighthorse Campbell, even that wasn’t sure-fire.
Ultimately, we want positive things, not just an absence of a total clusterfuck. And, in that sense, it is important what kind of Democrat is elected.
How do Latino issues fold into a progressive agenda and how does a progressive agenda fold into a Democratic agenda?
Those are the questions. Daily Kos isn’t asking them. And that is a cause of tension among progressives of all stripes and colors.
Exactly. And in some cases are outright hostile to the agenda.
Recently, I participated in a study of latino bloggers and wrote the following, perhaps it will give another facet to what I’m clumsily trying to articulate.
I would add that part of the big reason my diaries are decently received around here is because many of us have built relationships. I think that is vitally important not just for politics for general social well-being that nurtures a liberal worldview.
The perspectives are not there, really. In a limited way with MB, maybe, but otherwise… not so much.
Think of national news broadcasters… no matter where they are from originally, their speech patterns are slowed down (or speeded up), flattened out, made bland, palatable and acceptable to a good majority of the country. For the most part, anyway. Regardless of region, sex, ethnicity, color, what sort of stories they concentrate on, and so on.
Interestingly, though, in studies held, if people can see the news readers, some will always say they have a hard time understanding visibly Asian, Black, Latino and others, even if they sound just like the visibly White newsreaders.
There is a difference even between how kos, Armando, so on blog and how Steve Gilliard did… Gilliard didn’t blog about race all the time, but his being Black informed a good many of his views and his posts, and he’d imply that if not always say it. Which, by the way, is why I find people who say “OMG! I’ve (‘d) read Steve for years and never knew he was Black!” extremely insulting. Cuz basically that meant that they simply elided anything that might have hinted at who he was, and why, and just concentrated on what they wanted him to say or who they wanted them to be.
For years people thought digby was a man, and for years she was the only woman blogger who was consistently linked to with a “go read digby”. I’m sure this tells people something.
kos may be half Latino, mcjoan (or whatever) may be a woman but mostly, they (and the others) are the blog equivalent of the bland, homogeneous, acceptable to the mainstream national news voices. Were it otherwise, they’d have a much different audience.
That’s one reason why I felt it was important to fight back against Bill O’Reilly’s smear campaign against Yearly Kos. First of all, Yearly Kos was a Netroots convention and it took in a wide swath of the movement. Kid Oakland did his best to expand it.
Second, it would be a crime to allow Daily Kos to stand as the left fringe of (semi-acceptable) debate in this country.
But (and I agree for the most part) Daily Kos began as a fringe movement. It began as a lonely group that was unafraid to stand up against the dominant media narrative and even dominant mood of the country. And on the issues that galvanized them (us) they succeeded. Those issues were about war and peace and about the Bush administration. They were not about health care, barely about the environment, not really about race, or women’s rights. Civil rights, broadly defined, were always a focal point. Media criticism was central.
But it evolved into a more mainstream community as the issues it cared about came to be accepted by the mainstream. The movement was two ways.
Now Markos goes on Meet the Press and slams Harold Ford. That is a great victory in its own way.
But for many many people, there have always been issues as or more important than the war in Iraq, the crimes of the Bush family, and civil rights (broadly defined).
Well, here I agree:
Second, it would be a crime to allow Daily Kos to stand as the left fringe of (semi-acceptable) debate in this country.
I’ve long argued for dailykos to claim (or, at least, be referred to) the centrists and center/rightists that most there are. Far different from the beginning, true.
But for many many people, there have always been issues as or more important than the war in Iraq, the crimes of the Bush family, and civil rights (broadly defined).
Well, it’s just that for some people – well, really, for everyone, even if they don’t know it just yet – but especially for those that first and most severely feel the effects of various policies surrounding and resulting from these matters, those are all part of the same issue.
I think that’s because Markos keeps a pretty heavy clamp anything that is not pretty directly related to the partisan struggle. He has made it plain over and over again that the purpose of DailyKOS is to elect Democrats. No more and no less. You can have your occasional discussion on energy or gender or race or gardening or pooties or whatever, just as long as it doesn’t get in the way of bashing Republicans or elevating electable Democrats. Emphasis on the electable part.
I knew Armando was Latino. Not hard to guess, really, given the name. I didn’t know he was Cuban. In fact, I didn’t know much of anything about him except he wrote some pretty good diaries guaranteed to spark passionate discussion and more than a few flamefests, and he was famous for getting downright vicious with anyone who had the temerity to disagree with him.
I don’t or didn’t know anything about Meteor Blades’ ethnicity. I have the impression that MB is female, though I don’t know that for sure. What I do know is that every one of MB’s diaries has been worth my time to read.
But if you get too divisive on any issue, even something to do with electing an electable Democrat, you get shouted down and if you persist you get banned. How many regulars here are DKos refugees? Quite a few it seems.
Sorry, I didn’t intend for this to become a bash of DKos. It serves a very important purpose and I’m glad that it is gaining the attention and influence that it has. But I think it’s important to recognize what it’s not as well.
Given that there is a level of anonymity in blogging, Markos believes race is irrelevant. I’ve read his comments on this issue a number of times. I think he’s wrong because one’s racial background can/does have a very profound effect on one’s view of political issues and indeed one’s overall perspective of life. Moreover, Markos refers to various ethnic groups as “special interests” within the Democratic Party.
P.S. It wasn’t unconscious, I knew that I was talking about him.
I don’t recall Kos ever writing about a Latino issue, except that he met his wife dancing Salsa. But then again, I havn’t been paying much attention to what he writes any more.
Thx, Steven.
I hope this generates some true discussion. & I hope that we, i.e., progressives, don’t allow the centrists of blogtopia (skippy, y’all) bend this discussion to the foolish end of DLC light, you know, we need to elect Democrats, any Democrats. I’m a white liberal & if there is one thing I know is that people are still dying while the Democratic Party cringes when Bu$hCo threatens them. & this is the result of electing Democrats, any Democrats.
<i.Is that really all that revolutionary a concept?</i>
Yes.
Being white and listening are mutually exclusive concepts.
Being white means being objective, having a position “above” and “outside”, to be logical, learned and rational. OTHER people are biased, not sufficiently distant from their own subjective reality to be able to fully understand the subtle implications of their reportage or arguments.
Thank goodness they have we whites to constantly challenge and correct their child-like assumptions.
Women get the same treatment from men.
When you are with someone who is cast as “less” than you in some way: LISTEN, only ask questions that are respectful of what you are being told, and of the teller (if at all). Understand that people are often making a huge effort just to be talking to you. We have worked very hard to find our own truths, and then we have worked even harder to present them to members of a near uniformly hostile and condescending dominant culture. Listen, even if you don’t “get it”, because if you listen enough, some day you probably will, and in the mean time, the mere act of listening respectfully produces a yet another seismic rift under the Ivory Tower of whiteness.
Dag nab it, I just lost my entire post.
I can’t redo it.
I’ll just say my entire world view has changed in the past 10 years. ManE is a part of that change, but so is living among many people of color. Much change has come through KamaKid’s friends, many of whom are more than willing to talk about race issues and most of which are not white. Thank you ManE. You made me think buckets and I learned a lot from you.
But, most of all, I have learned from people who were willing to speak of race issues. I learned through listening to what they were saying. Listening and being able to speak openly with several people has taught me more than anything.
For many years, I was into an Arts Festival called Burning Man and we also were very aware of the white glare. I saw it as a cultural divide. The interests of the Black community and the White community are not the same. The same is true of the blogging world. Yet, that is not to say that we cannot agree on certain things, but just that our focus may differ. I’m noticing that the Black blogging world is starting to cross the White barrier. I am also noticing that the White bloggers are listening. Race is becoming a major topic on many blogs that I visit.
It is people like Man Egee that bridge the gap.
But, ultimately, I guess my point is that cultures are different. What is important to one, is not important to another. That does not mean we cannot come together over one issue, but only that it is futile to wonder how we can attract Black or Latinos to White issues. Instead, we need to listen and start working together to focus on a multitude of issues, even if they are not one’s own issues.
That is why Man Egee and Terrence (among many others) are so important. We learn where the lines cross and we find we have far more in common than we thought and we learn where we differ and we learn how to listen.
Cultures can be different but people should not. People are people no matter their race sex, etc. What I hear is a marginalized and ignored people wanting only to be treated fairly and openly as anyone of us white people would want. To me it’s that basic and simple. We all have different issues and needs . White seniors have different needs than white teenage females, but does one disregard and marginalize the other? No. It boils down to white supremacy, regardless of politics, and we continue to to hold the gate shut. It’s racism. Overt, covert, and even unintentionally ingrained that needs to change, not just listening to each other’s issues.
Let me clarify something. I don’t intend to seem critical of your comment or idaels. But there’s something in what you say about us needing to take or make the time to listen to minority issues that sounds to me, and i know this is not what you mean, but sounds as if we’re talikng about two different species. One greater and one lesser and that we almost need to force ourselves to listen. That idae that maybe i’m hearing wrongly seewms to get to the hearet of the problem. As people we are all the same. we all struggle, though some/we have the benefit of white culture to fall back on and lean on. Am I making any sense at all?
Sorry, my computer died last night. I’ve only got a couple of minutes from work.
I agree that we are all human, but respecting difference without dismissing difference is important. Listening is one way of both respecting difference and learning from it. Admitting that there are cultural differences and that these differences cause humans to have different focuses and needs and desires, etc., is not dismissing that we are all human inside. I think trying to gloss over this difference because we are all human, actually is worse in some ways for people of color. It says to me that the needs, wants, etc. for people of color are not important enough because we all want the same thing.
I know that many of us do listen, but I think many more do not. I know I didn’t use to, because I had no reason to. Sure, I was all for equality, but I had no idea what that even meant, until I started listening to people that were different than me.
I read a couple days ago a prominent blogger say that the reason Black people don’t blog is because they were uneducated and that if we had real equality in education that we would see more Black bloggers. That person is not listening at all.
Lots of blinders out there. Matt Stoller’s one of my favorite bloggers and he has tried to talk about race, but it still seems like he’s talking right past the points Jennifer is trying to make.
thx for seeing that, northcountry, because at the moment Jenifer is merely “wrong”
well this is deja vu all over again
i have heard these same comments/concerns for 30 years…..the peace movement, inner city transformation programs, garden clubs, yoga discussion boards, the leather/SM community, gay political activist communities……
i dont have an answer….im just pointing out its not new…
and now that i think about it…..its pretty much the same people in all those communities dealing with the same issues over and over again.
ok i do have an answer….as a leader in one of those communities….i pushed diversity….and a lot of people i love pushed back….not everyone wants to be part of a community where everyone else isnt just like them….they dont even realize this most of the time….the answer is leadership but also i go back to one of my favorite sayings…..when the people lead, the leaders follow…..there has to be a synergy there with everyone working towards the same goal in a very authentic and real way.
the seeds have been planted in the blogoshere…..it will just take time and effort but i think there will be progress…..
after a suitable amount of bitching, moaning and complaining that is.
I have heard it said that the only difference between White Liberals and White Conservatives is their approach to White Supremacy. From the Conservative perspective they see themselves as superior – or more accurately, they see others as inferior – so they feel no need to do anything for or about the plight of those that they view as inferior, no more than they’d feel for the plight of a flock of lost sparrows. White Liberals, on the other hand, feel that since they’re superior they have an obligation to help those inferior to themselves and that those who they help ought to be grateful for their generosity.
Personally, I don’t know if that washes – it’s way too broad a brush – but it does make a degree of sense.
I have come to think my total rejection of the left’s concept of diversity has come about due to the force imparted with it. “Equality” has come about at mine and my family’s expense and while even at my age I am still willing to give people the benefit of tolerance and understanding I recoil at many of the “popular” diversity buzzwords, concepts and thinking and I know this is a far too constrictive media to fully explain.
Just my thoughts.
By looking at all these comments I can now see why topics like this never get anywhere.
What kind of comments had you hoped to see?
Excuse me, but isn’t Markos Moulitsas a Latino immigrant from El Salvador?
People concerned about improving the diversity of top political blogs would do well to listen to this YearlyKos interview with Chris Rabb of AfroNetizen (aka BlooggingWhileBlack.com) wherein (among other things) he discusses some of the cultural differences between how most African-Americans use the Internet and how white folks do. Abraham Maslow aside, there are reasons beyond the control of the blogging community that have a lot to do with why political blogging remains largely a caucasian middle-class activity.
Excuse me, but isn’t Markos Moulitsas a Latino immigrant from El Salvador?
No.
I mean, he is Latino and Greek, but not an immigrant. He was born in Chicago (or nearby) and lived in El Salvadore from, I believe, the ages 4-8.
People concerned about improving the diversity of top political blogs would do well to listen to this YearlyKos interview with Chris Rabb of AfroNetizen (aka BlooggingWhileBlack.com) wherein (among other things) he discusses some of the cultural differences between how most African-Americans use the Internet and how white folks do.
Sure. Of course, while “Black (Latino, Asian, so on) Person over there said” is always good for an opinion, they could also listen to the people of various cultures right in front of them, who are typing directly to them, relating their direct experiences and views.
Just a thought 🙂
Obviously, I posted that particular interview because he had something interesting to say from both a cultural and political standpoint.
Most of the [insert gender/ethnicity descripto here] people I live among every day, like most of the people on the planet, are not very politically inclined.
Actually most people, especially marginalized people, are very politically inclined – just not in ways that the more powerful people deign to recognize as “politics”.
Exclusion is not just standing at the door and keeping someone out, it’s a refusal to recognize the person standing there: from refusing to acknowledge their presence to invalidating every action, message or assertion coming from them as somehow not “the right” thing to do or say.
Most of us are gate keepers of oppression merely by refusing to see that we are standing is someone else’s way.