Posted on Thursday, July 30, 2015

Racism Defies the “Greatest Commandment”

Eric Thomas Weber, first published on The Second Breakdown, July 30, 2015.

In July 2015, University of Mississippi graduate, Adebanke Alabi invited me to comment on race and the Church for a series on her blog. The following is my piece, originally published on her page and reposted here with permission.

Preface: I am grateful to Adebanke (Buki) Alabi for calling me to comment on race and Christianity for the readers of her blog, The Second Breakdown: My Thoughts on Jesus and His Church.

Mississippi is still home to obstinate racism, even while in 2014 Gallup found it to be the most religious state in the United States. The vast majority of the 44 failing school districts’ enrollments in the state are majority- to almost totally made up of African American students. Some districts have been accused of not having desegregated. We have seen symbolic racism at the University of Mississippi, as well as troubling direct confrontations. Some young people planned and executed a racially motivated murder a few years ago in Jackson, MS.

Despite all of these disturbing cases of racism in Mississippi, many citizens and public officials continue to resist change even to symbols of racism. I have argued that falsely romanticizing heritage does us harm and that symbols, like the Confederate Battle Flag featured in the canton of MS’s state flag, contribute to the perpetuation of racism and injustice. What has gotten very little attention is the tragic inconsistency between the religious beliefs people say that they hold dear and the contradictory behaviors that we see here in Mississippi.

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2015

What a Flag Has to Do with Justice

Eric Thomas Weber, first published July 8, 2015 in The Prindle Post.

The June 2015 murders in Charleston, South Carolina, have prompted a remarkable cultural shift in the American South. States around the region are removing or are voting to remove Confederate symbols of various kinds from public spaces. South Carolina and Alabama have made significant moves, and in Mississippi, the Speaker of the House and both U.S. Senators have called for changing the state flag, which presently features the Confederate Battle Flag.

I have argued recently that some heritage can do harm and that denying that Mississippi’s secession had to do with slavery is ignorance, not love, of heritage. For those who acknowledge our troubled history, an important question remains: Why is there such a push to get rid of the flag all of a sudden? What does it have to do with the Charleston murders or justice?

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Sometimes Heritage Does Harm

Eric Thomas Weber, first published in The Clarion Ledger on June 27, 2015, 5C.

This article was published online with the title “Sometimes Heritage Does Harm,” and in print, with the title “‘Heritage’ Argument Overlooks History.” It is republished here with permission. Click on the image or here to open a scan of the printed version, or here for a PDF of the online version. The text from the online version is included here below.

Flags communicate pride for heritage, but, for some, so do nooses.

Unqualified love of heritage inflames America’s deepest moral wounds. Heritage is palpable in places like Mississippi and South Carolina, where it is prized wholesale, the good with the bad. In the wake of Charleston’s mass murders, it could not be clearer that heritage is harming the country.

In 2012, James Craig Anderson was murdered out of racial hatred in Jackson,. Two years later, young men hung a noose and the old Georgia flag, featuring the Confederate stars and bars, on the statue of civil rights pioneer James Meredith in Oxford. Some courageous public officials and university leaders have begun to speak up about the need to transform our cultural symbols, while others stand in the way of progress.

In the name of loving heritage, those opposed to moving forward leave out the unpleasant parts of our history. Mississippi and South Carolina were among the states most honest about their defense of slavery in their justifications for secession. Nevertheless, South Carolina until this week flew the Confederate flag in the state’s capital. Mississippi’s state flag bears the stars and bars alluding to the Confederacy.

Symbols matter.

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2015

“Lessons from America’s Public Philosopher”

This piece is the culmination of years of researching and thinking about public philosophy. If you know me, you know that “America’s Public Philosopher” was John Dewey. Elements of this piece will show up in my introduction for a collection of Dewey’s public writings that I am finishing up.

Abstract

This article argues for a definition of public philosophy inspired by John Dewey’s understanding of the “supreme intellectual obligation.” The first section examines five strong reasons why more public philosophy is needed and why the growing movement in public philosophy should be encouraged. The second section begins with a review of common understandings of public philosophy as well as some initial challenges that call for widening our conception of the practice. Then, it applies Dewey’s argument in “The Supreme Intellectual Obligation” to public philosophy, which must not be seen simply as a one-way street from intellectuals to the masses but, rather, as the task of fostering the scientific attitude and intellectual habits of mind in all citizens.

Read the paper on Academia.edu

Citation

Weber, Eric Thomas. “Lessons from America’s Public Philosopher.” The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, no. 1 (2015): 118-135.

The artwork that the Mississippi Humanities Council commissioned to serve as an award plaque for the 2015 Humanities Scholar Award I received. The artwork depict Jackson, Mississippi's Old Capitol building.

This is the beautiful work of art that the Mississippi Humanities Council commissioned to serve as a plaque for the 2015 Humanities Scholar Award I was honored to receive in February. The event and the honor were deeply meaningful and encouraging.

Believe it or not, I follow the advice in this video every day. It’s brilliantly simple. It’s also serious. If each of us were really to make a little effort of this kind, the impact would be enormous. It saves on paper use, which cuts down on costs, and it slows the growth of landfills, one hand-washing at a time.

“The Law and Morality”
by Cherita Brown, Richard Gershon, and Eric Thomas Weber

Sorry, listening to the audio on this website requires Flash support in your browser. You can try playing the MP3 file directly by clicking here.

In Legal Terms - Call-in Show
July 21, 2015

This is the interview I gave Cherita Brown of Mississippi Public Broadcasting, MS’s NPR affiliate, and Professor Richard Gershon of the University of Mississippi School of Law on the relationship between the law and morality. Cherita also interviewed me about my forthcoming book, Uniting Mississippi: Democracy and Leadership in the South.

I hope to joint them again soon, as I had a great time. This is just one example of the collaborations I’ve enjoyed with the School of Law at the university, now that I’m an affiliate faculty member there.

Presentation:

“A Culture of Support and Merit: Promoting Independence without Stigmatizing Dependency”

Abstract:

In A Culture of Justice, I argue that a society has a shared, public obligation to foster self-respect and a sense of positive power in all people. Libertarians like Robert Nozick deny that there is a shared obligation to provide people the means to develop and exercise their self-respect, such as free and reduced lunch programs. While the libertarian is right to value the cultivation of independence, he is wrong, I argue, to stigmatize people who must depend upon government support. I propose a way to advance a culture of support and merit, promoting independence without stigmatizing dependency.

Looking forward to visiting Michigan State University’s Philosophy department, known for their publicly engaged work.

Here’s the flyer for the event.

Date:	February 12, 2016
Time:	03:00-04:00 p.m.
Event:	Talk: “A Culture of Support and Merit: Promoting Independence without Stigmatizing Dependency”
Topic:	Public Philosophy
Sponsor:	Dept of Philosophy, Michigan State University 517.355.4490
Venue:	Distinguished Lectures & Colloquia Spring 2016
Location:	134 S. Kedzie Hall East Lansing, MI 48824-1032
Public:	Public

If you're interested in inviting me to give a talk, visit my Speaking page.

Invited to give a talk in The Purdue Lectures in Ethics, Policy, and Science series.

Date:	February 10, 2016
Time:	04:00-06:00 p.m.
Event:	Giving a talk on "Poverty, Culture, and Justice"
Topic:	"Poverty, Culture, and Justice"
Sponsor:	Purdue University 765.494.4600
Venue:	Dept of Philosophy, Purdue University 765.494.4276
Location:	West LaFayette, IN 47907-2098
Public:	Public