Best Thing I Read This Morning

Modern racism feeds off self-interest and individualism.

Prejudice is an argument that explains why some live in comfort and others do not. Mass consumerism is an empty, soulless utopia of more, more, and more, of everything-supplied by a global stream of sacrifice and sweat. But a life centered on consumption for its own sake is unrewarding and unviable. Both in a purely mathematical sense, and in the ecological sense, the planet and our brown, laboring bodies cannot sustain the way of life that racism has helped bring into being. Collectively, as a species, we are destroying ourselves with fleets of bloated sport utility vehicles, and with plaster palaces that fill the plains and hillsides of many continents with thirsty lawns and coal-fed power grids. Our grand, utopian visions need to be grounded in a critique of this world. In the disciplined, precise study of the history that brought it into being, and of the contradictions of the present. From this understanding, new movements and new stories will be born. Tales and theories to bring down an empire, setting in motion a true-life epic of human resistance and liberation.

— Héctor Tobar / Our Migrant Souls: A Meditation on Race and the Meanings and Myths of “Latino”

What (Else) I’m Reading:

Do not talk to me of love and understanding.
I am sick of blandishments.
I want the rock to be met by a rock.

— Martha Baird / “Do Not Make Things Too Easy”