Althouse: "Is the city of Madison great and/or the 'most racist' in the U.S.?"

November 7, 2013

"Is the city of Madison great and/or the 'most racist' in the U.S.?"

Headline in our local alternative newspaper, Isthmus.

29 comments:

David said...: I would never say that Madison is a racist city. Never.

Highly bigoted, yes. But not racist.; 11/7/13, 8:33 PM
The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...: Having lived in the Madison of the Northwest, Olympia, it is no surprise to me that affluent-liberal-hipster-center-of-government-university-town towns are profoundly hypocritical and unwittingly racist places. Two students from Africa once told me that Olympia was the whitest place they'd ever been. They weren't talking about skin color either.; 11/7/13, 8:51 PM
MadisonMan said...: Madison is navel-gazinglyist city.; 11/7/13, 9:04 PM
MadisonMan said...: *the* navel-gazinglyist city, that is.; 11/7/13, 9:05 PM
Sorun said...: Where is that "growing population of ... low-income people of color" coming from, and why are they coming to such a racist city?; 11/7/13, 9:34 PM
Titus said...: Neither...Madison is boring, really Madison, totally boring. You think you are special but you haven't traveled around much.; 11/7/13, 9:41 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Have an honest conversation with a black person who lives in a predominantly white, liberal haven and you'll quickly discover that (s)he doesn't share the vision of that white liberals are racially virtuous. Blacks just aren't that thrilled with white people in general, and our politics & self-image don't change that.

I've also found that blacks from the South often miss it, and plan to retire back there after their job "up north" is done. When I was at first in DC, I thought that telling a black person that I was from Alabama would elicit a "Ya leave your hood at home, cracker?", but what I got more often than not was a discussion on some aspect of the South that my interlocutor knew, loved, & missed. One guy told me after I said where I was from "You know, you've just risen highly in my estimation".; 11/7/13, 9:42 PM
Titus said...: Madison thinks it is unique because some weirdo from Chippewa Falls lands there and thinks it is so fab.....sorry Madison you are a city of huge apartment complexes and strip malls....not fab.; 11/7/13, 9:44 PM
Titus said...: I am from the Madison area and at the age of 16 drove into the city to "study" at Helen C White and by the age of 17 I knew I had to leave...next I went to Milwaukee and knew it sucks....and then at the age of 17 1/2 was traveling to Chicago...and it bored me.

I was done.

And realized I was an East Coast Girl.

In the East Coast the fabness does not extend to like 10 blocks or "urban areas". I can travel to Maine and Vermont and New Hampshire and Connecticut and Rhode Island....I am safe and home.

I thought about "Go West" but I loved the hustle and bustle of the east.

thanks and tits.; 11/7/13, 9:55 PM
Sam L. said...: So, is Isthmus messed up, or what? All those students, many must be racist. I mean, they're white and all.; 11/7/13, 10:04 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: ""Is the city of Madison great and/or the 'most racist' in the U.S.?""

I don't understand the "or" part. Anyway, no one can deny that Madison is the Athens of Dane County.; 11/8/13, 12:32 AM
The Scythian said...: So the Commies at the Socialist Worker call Madison the most racist city, and someone in Madison actually cares? Why would anyone give a shit about what Trotskyites have to say about anything?; 11/8/13, 3:03 AM
C R Krieger said...: When the author says "white" do you think they meant "Caucasian"? Otherwise are they not just "racist"?

Regards — Cliff; 11/8/13, 6:13 AM
Paco Wové said...: Madison is [the] navel-gazinglyist city."

I have to think that Boulder CO could give it a run for it's money.; 11/8/13, 6:19 AM
Rae said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 11/8/13, 7:11 AM
Rae said...: Does that make Detroit the least recast city? They did just elect a white mayor.; 11/8/13, 7:13 AM
Rae said...: Damn autocorrect. Read "recast" as "racist" in my previous.; 11/8/13, 7:15 AM
Temujin said...: More navel-gazing from those who consider navel-gazing an intellectual pursuit.; 11/8/13, 8:10 AM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: So Gloria something -Billings and Kaleem Caire like Madison.

Good to know some of Madison's best friends are black. Now we know they can't possibly be racist; 11/8/13, 8:31 AM
SteveBrooklineMA said...: Did anyone check out the report?

http://racetoequity.net/dev/wp-content/uploads/WCCF-R2E-Report.pdf

It claims that in 2005 the arrest rate for black youths was 864 per 1000. Can that possibly be right? There are numerous other shocking statistics presented.; 11/8/13, 8:31 AM
rhhardin said...: But Madison is also full of people trying to make things better. Professor Gloria Ladson-Billings,

There's your trouble right there.; 11/8/13, 8:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Broomhandle: Having lived in the Madison of the Northwest, Olympia, it is no surprise to me that affluent-liberal-hipster-center-of-government-university-town towns are profoundly hypocritical and unwittingly racist places. Two students from Africa once told me that Olympia was the whitest place they'd ever been.

Yes, earnest white liberals can be comically, patronizingly racist in their assumptions and attitudes. On the other hand, what's wrong with a town full of white people being "really white"? What else is it supposed to be? Really Chinese? Really Somalian? Cities are made by the people who live in them.

Feeling more or less out of synch with the dominant majority culture is in the nature of being a member of a minority anywhere - country, city, neighborhood. For some reason, we give this universal phenomenon a special label when the minority is in places founded, built, and majority-populated by one particular kind of people.; 11/8/13, 8:57 AM
Peter said...: "Madison is a great city."

Well, no, it isn't. New York is a great city; Madison is not.

Madison may be a great place to live (esp. if you've got a secure job in its major industry, higher education). But, great? As in, a place with world-class cultural attractions? Perhaps a center of the financial world, or the art world?

Well, no, none of the above. Thinking that Madison is a "great city" is a form of latter-day geocentrism, imagining that where one lives is the center of the universe.

As for being "most racist," the question at least makes some sense if the primary qualification for this is, "greatest concentration of guilty white liberals."; 11/8/13, 8:58 AM
Anonymous said...: YH: Have an honest conversation with a black person who lives in a predominantly white, liberal haven...

You can have honest (and interesting!) conversations about racial matters with blacks (or other "people of color"*) that you will never, ever have with a righteous white liberal. Or a righteous white conservative, for that matter.

*Please don't anybody think I'm using that idiotic phrase with a straight face.; 11/8/13, 9:16 AM
David Davenport said...: New York is a great city; Madison is not.

... Perhaps a center of the financial world

The big banks of NY are evil.; 11/8/13, 9:18 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: The weather in Madison is great. Humidity is comfortable in the summer, and the cold is heartwarming in winter.; 11/8/13, 9:28 AM
Guildofcannonballs said...: Oh, and the sun! There are so many days of deep, deep blue sky and unending sunshine Madison should take the name from Florida and announce itself the Sunshine State (even though it's not a state).; 11/8/13, 9:30 AM
LarryK said...: Why wouldn't being the most racist city in the US be great? That smear has almost become a badge of honor - like being called a commie by McCarthy.

I'm (unfortunately) only half kidding...; 11/8/13, 10:07 AM
Andy Freeman said...: > why are they coming to such a racist city?

Follow the money....; 11/8/13, 10:59 AM