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Tim Wise (1968- ) is the best-known white anti-racist in America. He writes books and articles and speaks at universities across the country and sometimes even appears on CNN.

His big thing is telling white people about white privilege: the advantages that all white people, rich or poor, enjoy simply for being white. If blacks and other people of colour suffer from disadvantages because of racism, whites must then likewise enjoy the opposite advantages like generally living in better neighbourhoods and more easily avoiding prison.

Rich whites in America use white privilege to buy off poor whites with certain advantages to split and weaken the working class by race. Divide and conquer. Something they have been doing since the late 1600s.

The losers are not just blacks, Mexicans and other people of colour but poor whites too and even middle-class ones. Because whites vote against their class interests. So, for example, America does not have universal health care, something other rich countries take for granted.

White privilege blinds them to danger. So they are taken by surprise by things like 9/11, the mess in Iraq and the subprime mortgage meltdown. By seeing America from a narrow, self-serving white point of view they miss the big picture.

Wise grew up poor in Nashville, Tennessee. His father was Jewish, his mother, Scottish. At least some of the schools he went to were mostly black. He was part of one of the countrys top high school debating teams.

In the late 1980s as a student at Tulane University he took part in the anti-apartheid movement to get the university to pull its money out of companies that do business in South Africa.

In the early 1990s after Tulane he worked as an activist and fought against David Duke, a Klansman who would be senator. Wise found that what he did best was speaking and writing, which he has been doing ever since.

Blacks tend to see him as a white anti-racist, as a white ally, but whites (those who have heard of him) tend to see him as the face of anti-racism which makes him into something more than a mere ally.

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Forum: Author and Anti-Racism activist Tim Wise (Anne B. Bonnyman Symposium)
In this video, writer and anti-racism activist Tim Wise, named one of the "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World" and author of "Dear White America: Letter to a New Minority," reads from...

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Forum: Author and Anti-Racism activist Tim Wise (Anne B. Bonnyman Symposium) - Video

Tim Wise will speak at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland on Feb. 23.

image credit: Contributed photo

Examining pressing current issues in our society, Tim Wise will give a talk at the Lake Washington Institute of Technology in Kirkland at noon on Feb. 23, titled Colorblind: The rise of post-racial politics and the retreat from racial equity.

Wise, who scholar and philosopher Cornel West calls A vanilla brother in the tradition of (abolitionist) John Brown, is among the nations most prominent antiracist essayists and educators.

Wise is the author of six books, including his just-released Culture of Cruelty: How Americas Elite Demonize the Poor, Valorize the Rich and Jeopardize the Future. He has spent the past 20 years speaking to audiences in all 50 states, on more than 1,000 college and high school campuses, at hundreds of professional and academic conferences, and to community groups across the nation. He has also trained corporate, government, law enforcement and medical industry professionals on methods for dismantling racism in their institutions.

Wises talk is open to the public in the West Building, room W404. Admission and parking are free.

The talk is made possible with support from the LWTechs Associated Student Government and LWTech Foundation.

The Lake Washington Institute of Technology is located at 11605 132nd Ave NE in Kirkland.

Directions can be found at http://www.lwtech.edu/about_lwtech/kirkland_campus/

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Anti-racism author, educator Tim Wise to speak at Kirkland college

CEDAR FALLS | Author and anti-racism advocate Tim Wise wants to start a difficult conversation, one he likens to walking into a church and challenging the existence of God.

Wise wants Americans to confront their very founding principles.

At the University of Northern Iowa on Monday, Wise argued for a more conscious conversation to acknowledge our own privileges. He challenged the myth of a meritocratic society, the idea that if individuals work hard enough they can succeed.

Well, its not quite this simple. Its a little more complicated, Wise said. At some point, we need to put in the asterisk, but we generally do not.

Though Wise said the current narrative only reinforces classism, racism and sexism, he focused on the problems of economic inequality. He said hes noticed a recent trend where the poor are shamed and the rich praised to a degree not previously seen, even in the midst of the recession.

Wise asked whether the audience truly believed the 37 richest people in the United States worked harder than the 157 million people who collectively have the same wealth as those 37 men and women. He concluded its an absurd belief.

He pointed out at the height of the recession there were seven people applying for every one job available, and yet there were complaints the unemployed were lazy. He noted economic mobility is at one of its lowest points in American history.

And yet, faith in mobility is stronger than its ever been, Wise said.

Among the culprits for such attitudes are the easy access to information that allows the have-nots to see what the richest receive and an ingrained discrimination that makes those who got help refuse to help others.

Though he pointed fingers at Fox News for dehumanizing the poor while praising the rich, Wise said its also apparent in reality television, where average people can have a gimmick, rise to the top and become beloved celebrities.

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UNI speaker challenges myth of meritocracy

Good morning, Cedar Valley! It's Monday, Feb. 2, 2015.

Today's forecast: Mostly sunny, with a high near 12. Wind chill values as low as -15. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south southwest in the afternoon.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 5. Wind chill values as low as -5. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west after midnight.

Today in the Cedar Valley:

-- With Sunday's snowstorm, there are plenty of school delays and closings. For the list, go to http://wcfcourier.com/weather/weather_closings/

--- Join the UNI Womens and Gender Studies program for the CROW (Current Research on Women and Gender) Forum today at noon in the Center for Multicultural Education (CME) on the UNI campus. Dr. Lisa Jepsen will present Women and Law School where she will discuss the factors that influence success in the first year of law school with a special emphasis on race and gender. Jepsen will also provide aggregate statistics about UNI students who take the LSAT and apply to school.

--- The Waterloo City Council meets at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall.

--- The Cedar Falls City Council meets at 7 p.m. at City Hall.

--- Tim Wise, anti-racist essayist, educator and author, will speak at the University of Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. Wise is the author of six books and has contributed essays to more than 25 additional books. He is internationally known for his knowledge on issues of comparative racism, race and education, racism and religion, and race in the labor market.

--- John Mueller's Winter Dance Party will be 7:30 p.m. at Neumann Auditorium, Wartburg College, Waverly. This is part of the Wartburg Artist Series. This is a tribute to the music of Buddy Holly, Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. For tickets, call 352-8691 or go to http://www.wartburg.edu/artist.

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Good morning -- what's going on today