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| Tim Wise, whom scholar and philosopher Cornel West calls, “A vanilla brother in the tradition of (abolitionist) John Brown," more in the bio below. |
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Thankfully, this one is not, though unless you caught him on an interview, you may never have heard of him.
In the ongoing catharsis of combating "alternative facts" (lies) with actual knowledge, know that stereotypes go both ways.
Since the 2016 elections, I've been guilty of stereotyping white Americans. Right after the election, I was silent in grocery or department stores; only speaking when spoken to, not conversational; not friendly. The fact that ~ 80% of evangelicals voted for a man that is anathema to their stated beliefs was stunning and hurtful. It was easy out of anger to lump a large portion of the electorate and humanity into an admittedly bigoted, judgmental box.
As I've freely shared, I looked at my coworkers through a different lens as well, one focused on privileges I yet have full access to. I also had to remind myself that just like black culture, white America is not monolithic. I reminded myself of some of my college professors at a Historically Black College and University were also white; how some of them were the friendliest, approachable people I still know. That I'm friends with a Jewish physics professor and his lovely wife at the University of Texas. I am encouraged at the awakening from the young and old of all colors across the nation. I am encouraged that Tim Wise is not an anomaly among humanity.
It is stalwarts like Tim Wise that give me hope: hope that humans will discard this insane stratification by Melanin; that we will survive our own stupidity and hubris; that we won't let a few use divisiveness, jingoism and rhetorical flourish (as much as an eight-year-old can tweet) to divide us.
From his bio on his web site:
Tim Wise, whom scholar and philosopher Cornel West calls, “A vanilla brother in the tradition of (abolitionist) John Brown,” is among the nation’s most prominent antiracist essayists and educators. He has spent the past 25 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on over 1000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the nation. He has also lectured internationally in Canada and Bermuda, and has trained corporate, government, law enforcement and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.
Wise’s antiracism work traces back to his days as a college activist in the 1980s, fighting for divestment from (and economic sanctions against) apartheid South Africa. After graduation, he threw himself into social justice efforts full-time, as a Youth Coordinator and Associate Director of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the many groups organized in the early 1990s to defeat the political candidacies of white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. From there, he became a community organizer in New Orleans’ public housing, and a policy analyst for a children’s advocacy group focused on combatting poverty and economic inequity. He has served as an adjunct professor at the Smith College School of Social Work, in Northampton, MA., and from 1999-2003 was an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute in Nashville, TN.
Wise is the author of seven books, including his highly-acclaimed memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son, as well as Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority, and his latest, Under the Affluence: Shaming the Poor, Praising the Rich and Sacrificing the Future of America. He has contributed chapters or essays to over 25 additional books and his writings are taught in colleges and universities across the nation. His essays have appeared on Alternet, Salon, Huffington Post, Counterpunch, Black Commentator, BK Nation, Z Magazine and The Root, which recently named Wise one of the “8 Wokest White People We Know.”
Wise has been featured in several documentaries, including “White Like Me: Race, Racism and White Privilege in America” (from the Media Education Foundation), which has been called “A phenomenal educational tool in the struggle against racism,” and “One of the best films made on the unfinished quest for racial justice,” by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva of Duke University, and Robert Jensen of the University of Texas, respectively. He also appeared alongside legendary scholar and activist, Angela Davis, in the 2011 documentary, “Vocabulary of Change.” In this public dialogue between the two activists, Davis and Wise discussed the connections between issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and militarism, as well as inter-generational movement building and the prospects for social change. He is also one of five persons—including president Obama—interviewed for a video exhibition on race relations in America, featured at the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC. Additionally, his media presence includes dozens of appearances on CNN, MSNBC and NPR, feature interviews on ABC’s 20/20 and CBS’s 48 Hours, as well as videos posted on YouTube, Facebook and other social media platforms that have received over 20 million views.
Wise graduated from Tulane University in 1990 and received antiracism training from the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, in New Orleans.
And just Tim being Tim (there's a longer version on YouTube if you're interested):
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