Hi Brian, thanks so much for taking the time to read this and provide a thoughtful response. It’s interesting — I agree with everything you say here about the existing caste system — the great Isabel Wilkerson hit the nail on the head about that —and about an ethnic group that has its own culture, language, and so on. I mentioned this rich culture in the essay — making the point that differentiating false biological race from real culture/ethnicity is a way to appreciate and honor culture — but the little I wrote is truly incommensurate to the importance of the point you make.

My dear friend and colleague, Greg Thomas, has written persuasively about what he calls Black American culture and what he calls the blues idiom wisdom and the enormous contribution of Black American culture to American culture. He says “Black American” rather than “American” because there is no universal “Black” culture. The cultures in the Caribbean and various African nations are very different from Black American culture. So, it’s Black andAmerican. Interestingly, Greg had a riveting debate with the late Greg Tate some years ago in which Greg argued on behalf of Ralph Ellison and Tate on behalf of Amira Baraka. Quite a (respectful) sparring match. A video recording of it is on the web…

What do you think of Greg’s idea of embracing everything you’ve written but using the term Black American instead of Black? Is there a downside to that?

(Whether or not acknowleding this rich cultural heritage and living reality makes the deracialization project a promising or hopeless enterprise is a slightly different question).