To honor the dedication of the new Dr. Martin Luther King memorial in Washington DC, we're re-posting this critical interview with white supremacy scholar Tim Wise. This conversation originally aired in September, 2010. “In every sense the Tea Party is able to get away with things that no group of color could ever possibly do,” says Tim Wise, author of the new book Colorblind: The Rise of Post-Racial Politics and the Retreat from Racial Equity. While the Tea Party wails about socialism, Wise notes, they want to cut social services that they perceive as benefits for people of color—and the Obama administration's “race-neutral” politics aren't helping anyone. Wise joins Laura in studio for a special interview about his new book, and how racial bias infects every level of people's lives, from infant mortality rates to unemployment, college admissions and graduation rates to treatment in hospitals.
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