Wilson Riles

Racist memes (memes = the elemental foundations of culture) arise again and again in new forms out of the roots that are deeply imbedded in the myths of Western Culture. The unique form of slavery that was practiced in the West was fueled by the stories and myths that justify dominance over Outsiders and familial,…

Last week saw the dissolution and reformation of an important coalition in Oakland that had arisen out of the financial crisis and the spotlight on economic inequities brought by the Occupy Movement. The Oakland Coalition for Social and Economic Justice (OCSEJ) has reformed with a different collection of organizations and players. The causes for the…

As a 65 year old African American male, I identify with Trayvon Martin, the 17 year old youth that was killed in Sanford, Florida, on February 26. Despite the age difference, I visualize myself in his shoes, walking down the dark street near a gated community, talking to a girlfriend on the phone, and discovering…

Neil deGrasse Tyson believes that the United States has lost the sense of adventure, forward-looking expectation, and appreciation for innovation that was stimulated by President Kennedy�s call for space exploration. He bemoans this loss and is quite willing to recount the many scientific and material benefits that flowed from the activities of the National Aeronautics…

I was watching one of those modern-Westerns, a crime show. Old cowboys Westerns, we know, are mystifications of the US�s most recent manifest-destiny past. �BlackCommentator.com readers know this unreality because of our specific knowledge of the historical reality [that 40% of cowboys were black] is one of the missing or mischaracterized facts in the mystification.…

A listening-person does not need to �dive� very deeply into our experience here in this country to encounter bedrock oppressive �American� values that are barriers to justice for all. I should say �U.S.� values since America includes all of North America, Central America, and South America; people from countries outside the U.S. have fallen silent…

While listening to Senator Rick Santorum�s Iowa Caucus �victory� speech, I realized that Martin Luther�s message has been lost even among those who define themselves as his followers. I am referring to the person for whom Martin Luther King is the namesake. I am referring to the religious revolutionary who stood up to the immense…

Within the formation called Occupy Oakland, cracks have appeared because of political immaturity, fear of failure, “experience greed,” and Marxian mistaken-analysis. All of these and other challenges to the unity, expansion, and progress of The Movement are predictable and result from social-psychological thought and discernment handicaps that result from White, Western, European cultural history. These…

In 1933, in the early part of The Depression, the recommendation of Yale economist Irving Fisher, Harvard economics professor Russell Sprague, and the Undersecretary of the Treasury, Dean Acheson, was put before the President. Their collective recommendation was that President Roosevelt should set up local currencies with a demurrage mechanism across the nation. Pointing to…