Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

A few weeks ago, when I started this blog, the debate over the hypocritical World Conference of Africans and African Descendents Against Racism was still topical, at least in Barbados. I meant to post on this issue & never got around to it. Instead of commenting so long after the fact, I'm going to quote instead from an essay called "My Race", written in 1893 by José Martí (I've been reading the new Penguin Classics Selected Writings recently):

"'Racist' is becoming a confusing word, and it must be clarified. No man has any special rights because he belongs to one race or another: say 'man' and all rights have been stated. The black man, as a black man, is not inferior or superior to any other man; the white man who says 'my race' is being redundant, and the black man who says 'my race' is also redundant.... what right does the white racist, who believes his race has superior rights, have to complain of the black racist, who also believes that his race has special rights? What right does the black racist who sees a special character in his race have to complain of the white racist?"