Summer term's Montgomery fellow and famed African-American scholar Dr. Manning Marable called for Americans to change their definition of racism and the methods used to combat prejudice, in a speech to a crowd of more than 150 people yesterday afternoon in the Rockefeller Center.
Throughout the hour-long speech, Marable reviewed a list of challenges that need to be confronted under President Bill Clinton's Initiative on Race.
"Racism has mutated into a new form of domination," Marable said. There are "new forms of how people are marginalized."
To illustrate this point, Marable produced a host of statistics on topics ranging from the difficulty African-Americans face when obtaining a home loan to the number of young minorities now in jail.
"Instead of actually dealing with people in this country, we're warehousing them," Marable said, making reference to what he described as the alarming increase in the number of jails nationwide, which he likened to giant warehouses full of inmates.
"Prisons have become a multi-million dollar industry," Marable said.
He added that "what lynchings were in the South in the 50s ... the death penalty and life sentence without parole have become in the 90s."
This was Marable's best example of how racism now exists in what he said is perhaps a more subtle -- but equally dangerous -- form than in previous eras.
Marable, who referred to himself as a radical Democrat, surprised the audience by agreeing with the conservative critique of the moderate liberals -- the Clinton administration included -- for their lack of a "set of values."
He added that though he detests the far-right for what they stand for, he admires them for forming a set of values that are grounded and clearly defined.
Towards the end of the speech, Marable also spoke on the increased disillusionment and alienation of blacks and Latinos, which he said erupted into violence during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
The problem, Marable said, was these groups do not feel they have an "investment" in American society.
"We need to fight for a foundation in which everyone can participate," Marable said, "That doesn't happen in our country."
In addition, the writer and scholar related a personal story from his youth about a time when he accidentally purchased an Iron Cross -- a Nazi symbol during the Second World War -- and was then confronted by a Holocaust victim.
Although Marable was confused at the time as to why the symbol was so hurtful to this man, he now understands the pain he saw in the man's eyes.
He compared the Iron Cross to the Confederate flag, which "symbolizes the defense of human slavery," he said.
Marable urged the audience to strive for "a world without the repressive symbols that divide people from each other."
Marable also touched upon the challenges facing minority children, as racism continues to plague their prospect for the chance to succeed.
"No one suffers more in our society than black and Latino children," Marable said.
And to the frustration of Marable and other activists, the chances for inner-city children is not improving.
"To be young and black in the 1990s ... is increasingly problematic," he said.
While at Dartmouth, Marable will be teaching a history class and working on his latest book, entitled "What Black America Thinks."
Marable is a professor of history and political science at Columbia University.
