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> | Underneath the Mythology | | | The affluence of the rich excites the indignation of the poor | | | Give us your poor, your tired | |
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< | Without institutional support, racism is bad for business. Business owners don’t want their train conductors wasting time checking people’s race if they don’t have to. But that doesn’t mean people can or will forget about it. Arnold says new organizations rise to fill the gaps left by an older order. Hyper-exploitation today “happens” to be racist; 40% of Hispanics over 25 do not have a high school diplomas, and the same percentage of prisoners in the U.S. are Black. But that’s a coincidence. New York recently raised $260 million by requiring citizens to purchase new license plates, which were made by prisoners paid $0.42 an hour. The overlap of crime, poverty, education deprivation and lack of job opportunities with race isn’t inevitable. It’s the clear result of actions spurred by words and propelled by ideologies ingrained within the institutions of our country. | >
> | Without institutional support, racism is bad for business. Business owners don’t want their train conductors wasting time checking people’s race if they don’t have to. But that doesn’t mean people can or will forget about it. Arnold says new organizations rise to fill the gaps left by an older order. Hyper-exploitation today “happens” to be racist; 40% of Hispanics over 25 do not have a high school diploma, and the same percentage of prisoners in the U.S. are Black. But that’s a coincidence. New York recently raised $260 million by requiring citizens to purchase new license plates, which were made by prisoners paid $0.42 an hour. The overlap of crime, poverty, education deprivation and lack of job opportunities with race isn’t inevitable. It’s the clear result of actions spurred by words and propelled by ideologies ingrained within the institutions of our country. | | | The Taney court was and is very much vilified, and probably with good reason. But perhaps Taney the individual is really a victim, merely the personification of an institution charged with jealously guarding a mythological power structure. In Dred Scot, the Taney Court, after pages of exasperatingly explaining how Blacks are historically inferior, rests finally on the authority of the Constitution. Look, it says. Racism is part of our ethos, our creed, our mythology. Its in our courts, its in our laws, its in our constitution of nationhood. And he was right, it was. The deepest underpinnings of American property law stem from racism. No other principle of the law applied quite the same if you were determined to be Black, Hispanic, Native American, Chinese - anything not “white.” | | | But racism is over. People will start declaring it soon. Look at Obama, Sotomayor. New heroes, new mythology. In the end, Arnold submits to the customs of the tribe. Progress cannot be made without a progression of the mythology. But there’s something deeper than creeds and folklore. It’s the same thing which, for Frank, will never allow the law to be free of legal magic. It’s the human element which both constrains and frees us. | |
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< | Arnold admits that new organizations fill old roles. Progression of mythology takes place atop a foundation of stable underpinnings. Old roots wither and break or grow and prosper as the cultural landscape of the nation shifts, but veritable trunks still exist. Archetypes present continuing motifs from which fresh perspectives can carve new ideas, but the tumultuousness of creeds and mythologies throughout history have more in common than not. An authority exercises control, while an institution that embodies it simultaneously provides justification. This is Rome, this is the Catholic Church, the British Empire. This is how the Native Americans lost their land and Blacks became slaves. Like Taney, the individual is lost in the unconsciousness of the institution, but can choose to perpetuate it or not. Humanity is always the common element, and it should continue to check authority and underpin the mythology. It should not be allowed, however, to be appropriated as the personification of a justifying institution, as has been done with Corporations, Kings, the Courts and the People. | >
> | Arnold admits that new organizations fill old roles. Progression of mythology takes place atop a foundation of stable underpinnings. Old roots wither and break or grow and prosper as the cultural landscape of the nation shifts, but veritable trunks still exist. Archetypes present continuing motifs from which fresh perspectives can carve new ideas, but the tumultuousness of creeds and mythologies throughout history have more in common than not. An authority exercises control, while an institution that embodies it simultaneously provides justification. This is Rome, this is the Catholic Church, the British Empire. This is how the Native Americans lost their land and Blacks became slaves. Like Taney, the individual is lost in the unconsciousness of the institution, but can choose to perpetuate it or not. Humanity is always the common element, and it will continue to check authority and underpin the mythology. It should not be allowed, however, to be appropriated as the personification of a justifying institution, and therefore become malleable to authority, as has been done with Kings and other Chieftains in countless societies, and with Corporations, Courts and the People in our own. | | | |
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