Noam Chomsky on the Roots of American Racism

[Jefferson23]

March 18, 2015 7 AM

The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.

This is the eighth in a series of interviews with philosophers on race that I am conducting for The Stone. This week’s conversation is with Noam Chomsky, a linguist, political philosopher and one of the world’s most prominent public intellectuals. He is the author of many books, including, most recently, “On Western Terrorism: From Hiroshima to Drone Warfare,” with Andre Vltchek.

– George Yancy

George Yancy: When I think about the title of your book “On Western Terrorism,” I’m reminded of the fact that many black people in the United States have had a long history of being terrorized by white racism, from random beatings to the lynching of more than 3,000 black people (including women) between 1882 and 1968. This is why in 2003, when I read about the dehumanizing acts committed at Abu Ghraib prison, I wasn’t surprised. I recall that after the photos appeared President George W. Bush said that “This is not the America I know.” But isn’t this the America black people have always known?

Noam Chomsky: The America that “black people have always known” is not an attractive one. The first black slaves were brought to the colonies 400 years ago. We cannot allow ourselves to forget that during this long period there have been only a few decades when African-Americans, apart from a few, had some limited possibilities for entering the mainstream of American society.

We also cannot allow ourselves to forget that the hideous slave labor camps of the new “empire of liberty” were a primary source for the wealth and privilege of American society, as well as England and the continent. The industrial revolution was based on cotton, produced primarily in the slave labor camps of the United States.

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/noam-chomsky-on-the-roots-of-american-racism/?_r=0

[fasttense]

4. Thanks for posting this. It is very interesting.

I wonder what kind of an America we would live in if genocide and slave labor were not integral parts of our nation's history and wealth.

Here in lies the kernels of truth that explain the saying: Behind every great fortune is a great crime.

[Jefferson23]

7. +1 n/t

[marble falls]

5. Anything this trolled by racists has my vote. It was a good and thought provoking read. Thankyou.

[Jefferson23]

6. Yea, someone was definitely freaking out soon after I posted it.

You're quite welcome, I found it a very good read too.

[Judi Lynn]

8. Apparently the poster didn't take the time to read the article.

There's nothing in it which could cause anyone to pitch a fit.

The truth can be denied, clearly, but a denier can't keep other people from realizing the truth, anyway, no matter how hard he/she tries.

So glad for the chance to have read this important, factual commentary. F'r instance, having never read far enough, I had never learned the following, which would be impossible to dispute, from the article:

Jefferson, to his credit, at least recognized that the slavery in which he participated was “the most unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submissions on the other.” And the Jefferson Memorial in Washington displays his words that “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever.” Words that should stand in our consciousness alongside of John Quincy Adams’s reflections on the parallel founding crime over centuries, the fate of “that hapless race of native Americans, which we are exterminating with such merciless and perfidious cruelty…among the heinous sins of this nation, for which I believe God will one day bring (it) to judgment.”

The time spent reading this was important time.

Thank you, so much.

[Jefferson23]

9. I felt the same way, JudiLynn...I hope more will take the time to read it through as well.

[Tom Ripley]

10. K&R