Tim Wise
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Tim Wise | |
|---|---|
| Born | October 4, 1968 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B.A.- Political Science |
| Alma mater | Tulane University |
| Parent(s) | Michael Julius Wise and LuCinda Anne (McLean) Wise |
Tim Wise (born October 4, 1968 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American activist and writer.
Background
Tim Wise is a white anti-racist writer and activist in the U.S., who started giving lectures in 1995 at over 500 college campuses across the US. He has trained a multitude of teachers, corporate employees, non-profit organizations and law enforcement officers in methods for addressing and dismantling racism in their institutions.
Wise was born in Nashville, Tennessee to Michael Julius Wise and LuCinda Anne (née McLean) Wise. Wise's father is Jewish.[1] He attended public schools there, graduating from Hillsboro High School in 1986, at which school he was Student Body Vice-President and a member of one of the top high school debate teams in the United States. Wise went to college at Tulane University in New Orleans and received his B.A. there, with a major in Political Science and a minor in Latin American Studies. While a student he was a leader in the campus anti-apartheid movement, which sought to force Tulane to divest from companies still doing business with the government of South Africa. He first came to national attention as an anti-apartheid leader in 1988, when South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu announced he would turn down an offer of an honorary degree from Tulane, after Wise's group informed him of the school's ongoing investments there.
After graduating in 1990, Wise began his work as an antiracist activist, ultimately receiving training in methods for undoing racism from the New Orleans-based People's Institute for Survival and Beyond. Wise began his antiracism work as a youth coordinator, and then associate director, of the Louisiana Coalition Against Racism and Nazism: the largest of the various organizations founded for the purpose of defeating political candidate, David Duke, when Duke ran for U.S. Senate and Governor of Louisiana in 1990 and 1991, respectively.
After his work against David Duke, Wise worked for a number of community-based organizations and political groups in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, including the Louisiana Coalition for Tax Justice, the Louisiana Injured Worker's Union and Agenda for Children, where he worked as a policy analyst and community organizer in New Orleans public housing.
In 1995, Wise began lecturing around the country on the issue of racism. In 1996 he returned to Nashville, where he was born and raised, and continued his work around the U.S., gaining a national reputation for his work in defense of affirmative action. He is married with two daughters.
From 1999 to 2003, Wise served as an advisor to the Fisk University Race Relations Institute. Wise received the 2002 National Youth Advocacy Coalition's Social Justice Impact Award as well as the 2001 British Diversity Award, for best feature essay on race and diversity issues. He has appeared on numerous radio and television broadcasts, including the Montel Williams Show, Donahue, Paula Zahn NOW (CNN), MSNBC Live, and ABC's 20/20, arguing the case for Affirmative Action and to discuss the issue of white privilege and racism in America.
Wise argues that racism in the United States is institutionalized, due to past overt racism and the ongoing effects of that past racism, along with current-day discrimination. Although he contends that personal, overt bias is less common than in the past (or at least less likely to be openly articulated), Wise argues that institutions have been set up to privilege those who are white, and that subtle, impersonal, and even ostensibly race-neutral policies contribute to racism and racial inequality today.
Writing
As of 2009, Wise has written four books.
Affirmative Action: Racial Preference in Black and White (Routledge: 2005).
White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son (Soft Skull Press) is a memoir based on his own life's experiences.
Speaking Treason Fluently: Anti-Racist Reflections From an Angry White Male (Soft Skull Press) is a collection of essays released in fall 2008.
Between Barack and a Hard Place: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama, was released in February, 2009 by City Lights Publishers.
Other releases
In addition to his books and essays, there is also a DVD called On White Privilege: Racism, White Denial & the Costs of Inequality and a Double-CD entitled The Audacity of Truth: Racism and White Denial in the Age of Obama
Criticism
An The Arizona Republic opinion piece attacked Wise for making a "living finding racism under every doormat".[2]
References
- ^ http://amren.com/interviews/finley/20050511/index.html In a recorded debate with Jared Taylor, Tim Wise discussed his Jewish heritage, stating, "I’m Jewish, on my father’s side, my people are Jewish..."
- ^ MacEachern, Doug (2009). "Tucson schools create race-based system of discipline". The Arizona Republic. Phoenix, Arizona. Retrieved 2009-09-22.
Tim Wise [...] has made a great living finding racism under every doormat
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External links
- http://www.timwise.org/ — official website