Sunday, September 29, 2019

An Introduction to New York Times Comment Land

The New York Times OnLine offers a unique comment system. An article appears and next to it a symbol indicating that comments may be submitted by registered readers. I have submitted 1000s of comments in the past 3 or 4 years. My submissions most often deal with the American concept of "race" or with renewable energy, both subjects seen from a perspective provided by living for the past 23 years in Sweden

Recently, a highly unusual event took place in connection with publication in the New York Times Magazine of an excerpt from Thomas Chatterton Williams second book, out on October 15, 2019:

Profile In Black and White – Unlearning Race

The event was the sending of a Tweet by the Editor of the Magazine, Jessica Lustig  @jessicalustig, who recommended that anyone seeing her Tweet visit the Times and read the comments, at that time 150 but in the end more than 300. Never before have I seen a Times Editor express interest in the comments.

If you go to this mini URL
 https://nyti.ms/31uJLj9
you see this


My Family's Life Inside and Outside America's Racial Categories
My father was raised under Jim Crow. My children could pass for white. Where does that leave me?
To understand the title of the book, the title of the Times article, and the subtitle you must know that in America, the government classifies its citizens by assigning each to a so-called race or ethnicity. This system implemented by the US Census Bureau has been sharply criticized by the former director of the USCB, Professor Kenneth Prewitt, in a 2013 book - "What Is Your Race? The Census and Our Flawed Efforts to Classify Americans" The primary message of this book is that the United States must begin working to end this system. Prewitt and other academic researchers present reasons for doing that. The phrase "Unlearning Race" in Chatterton Williams new book tells us that he, seen in America as belonging to a black "race" perhaps wants to help ordinary Americans do what Prewitt wants the government to do, unlearn and end the use of race.

There appear to be only two New York Times comment writers who consistently point to the need for the Times and for all Americans to begin a discussion of ending the American system of classifying us by "race". One is Blackmamba, whose true identity I do not know, an American "seen as black". The other is me with a 1932 birth certificate stating Color - White. Blackmamba writes as one who knows much about his own multiple lines of descent and enough about genome research to know that the system is flawed. I write from the point of view of a Swedish citizen living in a country that once had an Institute for Race Biology but learned from WW II experience and from its own brilliant genome researcher, Svante Pääbo that there is no sound basis for classifying people by "race".

I read most of the comments next to Chatterton Williams essay and then considered this Tweet by Conor Friedersdorf, Staff writer at The Atlantic: 


Conor Friedersdorf
@conor64
·
What are the smartest reactions to Thomas Chatterton Williams' book excerpt? nytimes.com/2019/09/17/mag

I choose Blackmamba's as one of the smartest and I also choose it to call attention to Blackmamba's long record of being one of the very few NY Time comment writers who will even touch the subject of ending classification by "race". 

Blackmamba
There is only one biological DNA genetic evolutionary fit human race species that began in Africa 300, 000 years ago. What we call race aka color is an evolutionary fit pigmented response to varying levels of solar radiation at different altitudes and latitudes primarily related to producing Vitamin D and protecting genes from damaging mutations in ecologically isolated human populations over time and space. 

What we call race aka color aka ethnicity aka national origin is an evil malign socioeconomic political educational demographic historical white European American Judeo-Christian supremacist prejudiced myth meant to legally and morally justify humanity denying black Africa enslavement and equality defying separate and unequal black African Jim Crow. 

My earliest known European American ancestor was born in London in 1613 married in the Virginia colony in 1640 where he died in 1670. My earliest known free- person of color ancestors were living in South Carolina and Virginia during the American Revolution and fought on the side of the rebels. My earliest known black African enslaved ancestors were living in Georgia and South Carolina from 1830/35 where they were owned by and bred with my white American ancestors. My earliest known brown First Nations ancestors were living in Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia from 1830/35 where they mated with and married by black and white ancestors. 

Why does this heritage makes me just black in America?

10 Recommended

I will send a link to this post to Thomas Chatterton Williams, Jessica Lustig, Conor Friedersdorf, and Lauretta Charlton, new Editor the Times Race/Related Newsletter. If you want to comment I recommend that you write to me directly at lwlundgren@gmail.com but will also appreciate replies here.





3 comments:

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  3. I have been sending tweets to Thomas Chatterton Williams and several others who today, 19 December, are tweeting about unlearning race, suggesting that they read Blackmamba's comment. He is my NYT soulmate and it appears we are the 2 who most often comment on this subject. My submissions are often blocked and if they get by they then are not accepted. WE need a place for serious discussion - tweeting is a waste of time.

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