Poor Stay Poor - The Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and ...

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ne may offer this critique for discussion and still not en? dorsc the bleak. albeit correc?

ti\'C p0sition in The A111ericani:,.(1tio11 of

Sex. Virtually no one tells a story of

pleasure and happiness in Schur's book.

Like many crilics of current sexual

mores, he makes his point by producing

a narmtivc without hcroes1 even wiLhout people. In fact, his argument depends

on showing that women arc objectified

and silcn1. The h>'Porhcsis of dchuman?

i1.ation is cemcnred in a rigorously

dchumani1.cd celling. The pleasures and

pa3sions found in Intimate Mailers drop

out of Schur's American scene in favor

of statistics, the analyses of expcn s.

and similar tmtho rirnti\'c pronounce?

mcnts. He denies even the assertions

of elite women ?uthors and those of

their informants that incrcmcms of

love and delight have entered their

lives. Overriding these considerations is the imporr:incc of critic-ism, csped:all~? the criticism of capitalism, in the sr?or)' or love and sex. All \"OiCCS 10 the commry-in this case the voices of women who are 1he vkrims, the objccri6ed, rhe dehumani>.cd-fall silenr. The joy of wriring ? rheorerically and rherorically powerful book takes prCC? cdcnce over ocher people's pleasures.

The delight 've Americans h?ve in discu.ssjng SC..'> so seriously, vigorously, ?nd heroically should be balanced with an alertness 10 rhe dangecs involved. Sex is nor so ordinary after all, though ne.ithcr is it the sanctimonious engagement rhe Moral Majoriry ad,?ocarcs. I prefer Freud's chamcieriza1 ion of libidinal dri"es as like a riderless horse. Sex rh:u is wriue1l, :tn:.llyzcd. and recoumed in books may be just os don? gerous and just os unprcdicroblc.These

"'"" books both make for compelling reading. and In11i11ate Mailers is par? licularl>? innovnti\?e and engaging. At the Slime 1ime. the authors have silenced many people in rhe process of allowing

others to speak. Trying on the one hand 10 discipline or on 1hc other to encourage the riderless horse through writing cons1 irmcs n perilous endeavor that pfoces all commentators on sex in a dilemma. \X'hile silence abour sex

has a par1 icu1ar politics of its own, writing about it in\"olvcs a quest for power with its own social costs. After cwo centuries, the Marquis de Sade's

mere written program for sexual liberty srill troubles us. Gingerly making our way through this minefield, we: continue to explore what nn egalitarian politics or pleosure and n danger-free wriring

about sex could possibly look like. 0

Why the Poor Stay Poor

Claybome Carson

The 1ruly Disadvilllfaged: ?rhe /1111.cd by on economically dysfunc?

110001 tuflu" of pm:nly, hco prefers

insrctd lO crnplwi2" the I or 10an residcms. which in turn reloy?blc ?nd 1hus marriagettble blotk m.1les

Yet, while impressed by Wilson's rks11" to provide a sound inrcllcc:tual b05lt for ? rcncv.~ ?ssoult on pl>\ttty. I rcmoin troubled by wh21 Wilson lco\U out of his di ex:1n1ine the block ghe110 from the 0111,ide, ._,a problem 10 be solved 1hro\lgh l!Mrol social engineering. ro1hcor 1hon os ?

romplc.? community cupoble or bcln~ tnlnsformcrspccih'Cs of th~ l'oor

rC\~~dJ one of chc worst aspccu cr11dition:al libcM1li or tho

Ahcllll black poor suggests, howc?' whcro lil>ernl values pr'lthy IOW?rd poor bl..ks h.. man1ra1ed ilsclf in ~copPQStuon

to busing ?nd 10 publk housing protCCU

in predominantly "-hitc ncighbothoods. To Stt white night from central chic.

as simply a rcs1>0nsc to economic pres? surcs i.s to hlnore the continued signiti~ crulCC of nt('e U> a funJ11mentaJdcmcn1 in American lifo.

Wilson'? cli...,..nting o( rorum A> ?

C.U5C or urb:an po\Trty stems .. much from poltnnl oxpcdimcy .. rrom cm

piricul e\?tdcncc. Emphasizing race a>?

ause would rtquire programs dcsi11ncd

specifically to ronfront rocU.I barriers as wdl :1.> ................
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