Ethnic Newswatch Media Item

Why Capitalism Isn't A Dirty Word
Session, Michael. The Skanner. Portland, Or.: Jul 17, 1996. Vol. XXI, Iss. 39; pg. 4

http://0-proquest.umi.com.maurice.bgsu.edu:80/pqdweb?did=495924131&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=3340&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Johnson, G. Allan. Power, Privilege, and Difference Second Edition. Mcrgaw-Hill. New York, 2006. 108-124.

I’m doing my media article on Capitalism. I found it through the BGSU libraries database called Ethnic Newswatch. The name of the article is “Why Capitalism Isn’t A Dirty Word.” The reason I chose this article is because we read a whole chapter out of Johnson’s book named Power, Privilege, and Difference. It was the third chapter that dealt specifically on how capitalism started up racism. And this article goes into the details of backing up that capitalism didn’t start it, but yet it was “self-interest” that started racism. There is also a chapter in Johnson book about different steps in dealing with racism, chapter eight, and I believe this article can touch with some of those points.
Abstract (Summary)
Unfortunately, to many Black Americans, capitalism is a dirty word. The word capitalism brings to mind images of racial subjugation and degradation. According to this world view, capitalism is seen in its most hideous form when viewed within the context of the Black American experience. After all, was it not capitalist America that held Black people in bondage for over 400 years?
A key economic precept of capitalism is consumer sovereignty. This is to say consumers are empowered to make their own choices independent of the choices of others. This notion of consumer as king results in a diffusion of power, thereby avoiding a dangerous concentration of power. This capitalism serves to separate economy and state much as our constitution separates church and state. The benefit of capitalism is that not all things are decided by the zero-sum game of politics. SELF-INTEREST IS KEY.
In Mobile, Ala., the streetcar company initially refused to comply until its streetcar conductors began to be arrested and fined for noncompliance with the law. In Jacksonville, Fla., the streetcar company delayed enforcing the segregated seating law of 1901 until 1905. Georgia's state law of 1891 segregating the races was ignored by the streetcar company in August until 1898, and in Savannah until 1899. In Tennessee, the streetcar company opposed the state legislation imposing Jim Crow seating in 1903, delayed enforcement after the law was passed, and eventually was able to get the state court to declare it unconstitutional.
In this article, the author points out that even though there were laws that enforced segregation, the capitalist tried not to enforce them. By not enforcing them, they would loose business (Session). I can understand that but what about the years of oppression and troubles African Americans have gone through. Because of capitalism, people have committed genocide, had numerous conquests, and ignored signed treaties (Johnson, 46). And this brings me to chapter eight of Johnson’s book, because I see this author using two of Johnson’s ways of getting off the hook. He is using “deny and minimize” and “blame the victim” in this article (Johnson, 108-111). Deny and minimize is used when the author talks about how most of the capitalist presence was in the north during America’s early days. And that the north was made up of Free states; the same free states that defeated the south, which ended slavery (Session). Johnson says this is the easiest way to get off the hook, and “closely related to denial is the minimization of the trouble by acknowledging that it exist but then claiming that it doesn’t amount to much,” and I feel that this is what Michael Session has done in his article (Johnson, 109). He is also blaming the victim in one section towards the end of the article when saying, “In fact, if Black American political leaders gave greater emphasis to economic freedom it would become clear to people that their economic freedom is being held back by the liberal welfare state agenda sponsored by the very political class that is supposed to serve their interest” (Session). He is blaming the black race for why they are not had successful political leaders, by pointing out their low welfare states. Overall this is a pretty racist article that has some good supporting points but in the end, the author doesn’t have enough support for Capitalism not to be a bad word, for the blacks.