seanessay.com …The past is a foreign country. They do things differently there… L.P. Hartley, 1953 Hello from my London holiday! Do you and I have racism? You might reply, “Not-me!” I might reply, “Not exactly,” because certain justice warriors would say that every man, woman and child raised in North America has racism—regardless of their […]
A Reservoir of Racism: The Reckoning
seanessay.com David Frum once hesitated when asked a question. A former White House staffer, Frum explained that his answer, once given, would then seem so obvious that Frum would look stupid for “stating the obvious.” I forget the specific question to Frum, but today I face a similar plight regarding racism. Such is the lot […]
American Fiction Without Sex or Violence Perspective
seanessay.com I come from a minority group where we take some pride and comfort in our clan, because the only time we see ourselves on TV is the Connor family and before that the Bunker family. Blue collar. But in popular television culture, even the Blacks are rich like the Huxtables and living in Bel […]
Ugly People and Unforeseen Populism
seanessay.com I wonder what the conspiracy-folks think of this November issue of The Atlantic. The one with a cover story of the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Mark Milley, who’s father served in the pacific during WWII. Milley had to try to rein in President Donald Trump. “The Donald” was clueless. Flip […]
Race in London, Repair and Remorse
seanessay.com This morning I was walking in London, once a city of commerce from slave trading. I won’t ask anyone, including me, to feel “white guilt.” There exists, to keep society healthy, a boundary called “the statute of limitations.” At the same time, as my favourite essayist noted, “Every healthy society must demand a little […]
Enjoying Imperialism Like Everybody Else
seanessay.com (over 1,000 words) Still in London, Where the museums of history and art are now explicitly non-racist and non-colonial For you and I, culture persists, AND, culture-wise, we individuals have free will. I’m thinking of imperialism and “male socio-economic class”-ism.” In a long ago college English class, when we took Earnest Hemingway, I said, […]