Evidence of racism

I just returned from an eight-day jaunt to San Francisco and Monterey with my wife and daughter. Before I get started with my "let me count the ways" thoughts on institutionalized racism in America, I must first say that California is the hippest place on earth. You feel the vibe almost as soon as you cross the state line. We took the coast road down from Astoria and as when we hit the Redwoods north of Eureka (which, if you haven't done - do! Go and see them, that is, don't hit them) there was just some weird ethereal presence that said "you are at the center of the known universe." It was noticeably stronger the closer we got to San Francisco, and I'm left with a yearning to sell my house, all my "stuff", and go practice Tai Ch'i in Golden Gate Park for the next four years.

However, as hip as Frisco is, I have never been in a city which has such a stark contrast in the condition of evidently ethnic neighborhoods. You know what I mean, right? You come in off the freeway and on your way to the tourist spots you have to go through the ghetto, where the roads are miserably potholed, buildings are dilapidated and boarded over, and there is a definite lack of "whiteness" in the sidewalk population. So you drive north for a few miles, thinking that your vehicle wasn't really built for this kind of cross-country outback terrain and hoping you don't blow a tire, and all of a sudden the roads are better and the buildings are no longer in a state of disrepair. In San Francisco, if you're on I-280 like I was, you are now in the business/warehouse district. Get me? The warehouses and the docks are better taken care of than the minority neighborhoods. Cruise a little farther north and west and Presto!, you're in White City, where the apartments are renting for $2650 for a 3-bedroom. Now, there are black people on the streets in these neighborhoods occasionally (at least there were in the Haight-Ashbury district) but they tend to have paper cups.

Tying this into the recent election cycle, does anyone ever notice that folks with W stickers on their vehicles are white. Not just mostly white, or predominantly white. Not proportionally white based on population demographics. I mean 99.9%. I did see a black guy with a W sticker on the freeway the other day...but he was driving a company van. How about those "VIVA Bush" stickers? I keep expecting to see someone who is obviously Latino driving those cars, but nope, it's whitey again. I hate to be stereotypical, I really do, but there's definitely something going on here (I know you see it too, but we need to keep saying it.) All is not well with race relations in America, despite us telling ourselves what a great job we're doing.

There are a couple of books you should read by a fellow named Cornel West, who is a preeminent scholar of race relations who has taught a number of places, but I think he's currently at Harvard. The first is called "Race Matters" published in 1993, the second was just published as a decade-later follow-up called "Democracy Matters". West references the good doctor Dean in his introduction, and the Deaniac movement as being emblematic of hope for the future (among other things.) And he certainly is a Bush-basher, but subtly. He has a video lecture that is run every now and then by UWTV. Then check out Chris Rock's newest DVD (HBO special) titled "Never Scared." He is a brilliant young man, and really taps into the roots of race problems in our country. He talks about the nationalistic fervor that has been present since 9-11 as being a little "too Germany." His comedy is superb.

OK, the last thing I want to make a point on is an activist issue where we all need to call Comcast and DirecTV or whomever we get our cable from. There is a progressive station called FSTV (Free Speech TV) which does a lot of C-Span type book reviews, has Democracy Now! hours, runs videos from people like Ralph Nader and Noam Chomsky. I was unaware of this station until I came across it in Eureka, CA last week (it broadcasts from public access in Arcata.) I then found that our public access stations (Seattle) run FSTV for a single hour (8am - 9am) Mon-Fri and not at all on weekends. How is it that progressive Seattle does not have more access to this station. This is the stuff that people should be watching - the "real" news as opposed to "faux" news that is a GOP cheerleading organization. We have to get this more widely available. What do we do? Where do we start? I know someone out there has ideas about this. Waiting for comments.