RACE & ECONOMIC TRANSFORMATION

"Money" vs. "Knowledge"?

OR:

"The End of 'Western' History?

My copy of the "Americas Quarterly" arrived in the mail yesterday.  After thumbing through the articles, themed "Social Inclusion", I was struck by the similarities with "Integration" that started in earnest in the United States in the 1960's.  It seems they are pushing a similar path for "The Americas"; which really turn out to be non-white America, stretching south from our border with Mexico.  Good Luck with that!  "Integration" has not worked too well for non-whites (and lately, poor whites, women and Gays) in the United States.  Maybe "Social Inclusion" is somewhat more accurate a term because it implies "Exclusion" which is the proper way to look, both at our past and toward our future.

I pulled my copy of Peter Drucker's Post-Capitalist Society (1993) from the shelf and reviewed his description of "The Transformations".  These are periods in Western History when social and economic orders changed in such a way that grandchildren did not understand how their forebears lived. 

 He cited the new City-States of the 13th Century; 1400-1500;  Martin Luther's rebellion against the power of the Catholic Church, 1776-1816; and the rise of Capitalism and Communism.  He writes that the one we're in now began in the 1960's , is global, not just 'Western' (ie., European, or "white").  He calls it the age of "Knowledge".

My ticket into Peter's program in the 1980's was my master's thesis in Public Administration, U. of New Mexico, 1972, entitled American Values in Black and White in which I proposed that this nation has two core values: white skin and money.  What I argued with Peter about was the change that took place in the Americas in the late 1800's, when the U.S. Supreme Court enshrined in law the "one-drop" (African link) principle; learned in slavery in the Americas, and used earlier in our history to transform servitude from one based in money (indentured) to one based in biology.  It can be argued that the current version of the principle can be found in our prisons, where black and brown males, mostly, are enslaved, under law, to serve Wall Street investors in a privatized prison system.  The process permanently strips them of citizenship rights by virture of their "felonious" past.

What is most prominent at this time, however, is exclusion based on wealth.  We're in a period wherein money, not knowledge, prevails.  Those who have the money will get everything else they want.  They will also be able to enslave those who have knowledge, but lack money.

Peter discussed with us our antiquated views of "education" and the fact that Western Education has not essentially changed since the Guild Period of the Middle Ages.  He predicted the collapse of our education system; and he may yet be proven right.  He's been right-on about everything else.

Except for the power of race, that is.  Look what is happening to our first Black President! Thankfully, Peter did not live to see this.
Stay Vigilant!

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