Pynchon's "White Negro" view of Watts & Scooby-Doo too

[Henry Musikar]

If the reports of are accurate, then class privilege underlies the Gates'
arrest at least as much as the racism that may have caused Gates' neighbor
to call the police to begin with.  One would be hard-pressed to find a more
shining example of academic/upper class than Gates; taunting a cop who has
come to your house because they were called by a neighbor wouldn't be
undertaken by anyone who wasn't drunk, stupid, or who considered themselves
no more than the cop's equal.  Gates isn't a stupid or simple man.  Neither
is TRP.  

The anti-PoMo idea that reduces each interaction between individuals of
different races to one based on race is base reduction, which when carried
too far goes beyond producing a fond to burning the pot.  Sometimes a black
professor is just a professor, and sometimes a cop is just a cop.

Henry Mu
Sr. IT Consultant
http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20/ 


-----Original Message-----
From: Campbel Morgan

The Jazz? Read Toni Morrison & Cowart. OK, who cares ...on to ....

Young TRP, author of the SL stories, V., The Secret Integration,
Journey Into the Mind of Watts ...affected a white nego stance; he
decribes this period in his SL Intro., an honest and frank assessment
of his novice and apprentice years;  how the trends and ideas blowing
in the wind moved him. These trends and ideas, including the phony
liberal democratic ideals, racist, sexist ...i.e. JFK James Bond ...
ideas, did not move others in the same direction, for the attitudes he
assumed and devloped were attractive to him. He was that kinda kid
that he describes. People change, they mature, they can even reverse
their positions on matters. But some characteristics remain unchanged,
some are reinforced, some are essential. In SL Intro. P says that Race
may turnout to be less important than class. Tell that Gates and West.
For those interested in that thread, Richard Thompson Ford's essay is
a must read. For it is not only P who has changed, but a nation.
The Depressing Cycle of Racial Accusation
The arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. is about neither racial profiling
nor playing the race card.
By Richard Thompson Ford
http://www.slate.com/id/2223472/ 

I also suggest West's discussion of the Jewish-Black battle over
minority status, niether willing to relinguish it (Race Matters).