Writing from afar, the extraordinary thing to me about the media response
to the Lawrence report is the casablanca nature of the media hand
wringing. The media suddenly discovers what every person of colour in
Britain (along with socialists, feminists and other activists) has always
known, namely that the state is rife with racism. "Shocked!" are the
media, "shocked! to find out that there is racism going on in this place,"
when of course it has taken extraordinary collusion by the press to
conjure up a long histoprical silence about racism. Why are they coming
clean now, even if they are deflecting responsibility to specific local
"aberrations" (Eltham)?
Neil Smith
Department of Geography
and Center for the Critical Analysis of Contemporary Culture
Rutgers University
Piscataway NJ 08854
phone: 732 445 4103 (Geography)
732 932 8679/8426 (CCACC)
fax: 732 445 0006 (Geography)
732 932 8683 (CCACC)
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|