Tim Wise's Blog
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May.12.2010
To get a sense of the fundamental injustice of Arizona's anti-immigration bill, SB 1070, consider something that happened recently, and something that didn't--neither of them in Arizona, but rather in Nashville, Tennessee.
Earlier this week, because our children were out of school for teacher in-...
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14 comments
May.05.2010
As a writer, there are times when you have something to say, and yet no particular "hook" upon which to hang the missive you are burning to release. In these moments, it is often best to wait, to hold on to the material you find so compelling, secure in the knowledge that soon enough...
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7 comments
May.03.2010
The excitement would have been palpable. Such a long journey, alone, and now it was nearly over. He was almost there, just a few yards from entering his new country, the United States. His heart, by now, would have almost certainly been pounding in anticipation of what lay ahead: a new life of...
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35 comments
Apr.25.2010
Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called "Imagine." The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure--the ones who are driving...
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17 comments
Apr.25.2010
Am I the only one who finds it a bit too coincidental that in the midst of a political season in which conservative whites can be heard screaming that they "want their country back," the Governor of Virginia should declare April "Confederate History Month?" Or that others would...
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5 comments
Feb.27.2010
Recently, I received an e-mail from a college professor who shows a video of one of my speeches in her classroom. She explained that she was in need of a citation for a claim I had made in the video, to the effect that although blacks and Latinos are far more likely than whites to be searched by...
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117 comments
Dec.27.2009
This Christmas Eve, I stood guard, anxiously surveying the narrow border between childhood innocence and the complex wisdom of messy adulthood. Little had I realized before now, how perilously close to one another are these two geographic spaces, and with what relatively modest effort a person...
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4 comments
Oct.19.2009
There is none so dangerous as the white American who waxes nostalgic about what he or she likes to call "the good old days." Or, alternately, those "simpler" times, or the era of so-called "innocence" remembered from their childhoods, memorialized in a Norman Rockwell...
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25 comments
Sep.14.2009
At first it seemed little more than a bizarre rant, only slightly worse than those to which we've grown accustomed, given the source. To wit, Rush Limbaugh, who on September 11 condemned President Obama for speaking that day about community service, and encouraging young people to become involved...
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12 comments
Sep.07.2009
Van Jones, special advisor to the President's Council on Environmental Quality, has resigned from the administration. To be honest, he was forced out. Oh, perhaps not directly, but if not, then by the stunning silence of his employer. An employer more concerned about appeasing the right-wing...
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7 comments
Aug.19.2009
Apparently it doesn't take much to get under the skin of conservative talk show hosts. First, there was Rush Limbaugh, attacking me for my comments earlier this week on CNN. He called me a liar for claiming that he had said President Obama hated white people, and he was even more inflamed by my...
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14 comments
Aug.18.2009
Today is a glorious day indeed. First, our youngest daughter began kindergarten this morning, amidst great excitement and enthusiasm, and was walked to her classroom by her big sister (in 2nd grade), who felt especially "adult" for getting to do that, I'm sure.
And secondly, because...
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7 comments
Aug.17.2009
"How dare you say this is about racism!"
And a pleasant Monday to you too sunshine, I thought, as I stared at my computer screen this morning, reading over the first e-mail of the day.
It was from someone who had apparently seen my presentation on CNN last night, in which I explained why...
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30 comments
Aug.12.2009
If you get a chance, today or perhaps tomorrow, do yourself a favor. Look up some file footage, perhaps on YouTube, of Adolf Hitler, addressing his followers. I know, it doesn't sound like the best way to spend your day, or even a few minutes of it, but trust me, there's a point to the...
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8 comments
Aug.10.2009
Throughout the first six months of his administration, President Obama--perhaps one of the most politically cautious leaders in contemporary history--has been routinely portrayed as a radical by his opponents on the far-right. In particular, persons who have apparently never actually studied...
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6 comments
About Tim
Tim Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S., and has been called, "One of the most brilliant, articulate and courageous critics of white privilege in the nation," by best-selling author and professor Michael...
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