The Nation - 07.10.2019

October 7, 2019 The Nation. 31

CHARLIE ROSE AND LES MOONVES IN 2012 (WIREIMAGE / GETTY IMAGES / JAMES DEVANEY)

Civil War egalitarian wave,” but presumably

he felt that he already told their story in his

previous book. Had he continued into the

1890s, he would have been able to discuss

the balance between racial exclusion and

inclusion in the Populist movement. Despite

many examples of Populist racism, solidarity

across the color line was not unknown. Most

notable, perhaps, was the fusion movement

that enabled a coalition of black Republicans

and white Populists to win control of the

government of North Carolina from 1894 to

1898. Echoes of that achievement persist as
      an inspiration for North Carolina’s biracial
      progressive resistance, led by the Rev. Wil-
      liam Barber. It deserves more than the brief
      mention it receives here.

P

ostel’s subtitle evokes, no doubt in-

tentionally, Gunnar Myrdal’s classic

study of American racism, An Amer-

ican Dilemma, published in 1944. For

Myrdal, the dilemma was essentially

psychological. It existed in the divided mind

of white Americans who professed a com-

mitment to equality yet refused to acknowl-

edge how the condition of black Americans

made a mockery of the country’s egalitarian

ideals. The dilemma that Postel asks us to

confront is somewhat different: the fact that

the post–Civil War farmers’, women’s, and

labor movements, all committed rhetori-

cally to equality and solidarity, could not

escape—indeed, often embraced—the trap

of racial exclusion.

Today, the Grange survives in some rural

areas as a social center rather than a political

movement. The WCTU continues to exist

but has long since been superseded by other

groups demanding gender equality. The

Knights of Labor disappeared long ago, but

its principle of solidarity among all laborers

inspired movements from the Industrial

Workers of the World to the Congress of

Industrial Organizations as well as today’s

fight to raise the minimum wage.

Thanks to Occupy Wall Street, the pres-

idential campaigns of Vermont Senator

Bernie Sanders, the work of the French

economist Thomas Piketty, and more gen-

erally the dysfunctionality of contemporary

capitalism, equality—or the widespread lack

thereof—again occupies a prominent place

in political debate. Beyond the fate of the

individual organizations it covers, Equality

reminds us of a homegrown radical heritage

that critics of today’s deeply unequal Amer-

ica can be inspired by and must improve

upon. The ideal of equality remains as rad-

ical as it was in Jefferson’s day. But equality

limited to some is not equality. Q

I

f the Me Too movement exploded with

a reported story, its backlash began with

an apology. “I so respect all women and

regret what happened,” the disgraced

movie mogul Harvey Weinstein wrote

in a long-winded response to The New York

Times’ article. “I cannot be more remorseful

about the people I hurt.”

Weinstein’s apology, which veered be-

tween subjects like the National Rifle Asso-

ciation, Jay-Z’s album 4:44, and his mom (“I

won’t disappoint her”), was too ridiculous

to be taken seriously. But it marked the

beginning of a genre: Like accursed clock-

work, it seemed that every man who found

himself facing even minor consequences for

his mistreatment of women was suddenly

issuing an apology. These letters ranged

from semi-self-exonerations, such as the

one composed by Matt Lauer—“some of

what is being said about me is untrue or

mischaracterized, but there is enough truth

in these stories to make me feel embarrassed

and ashamed”—to those that deflected, such

as the one written by Dustin Hoffman—“I

have the utmost respect for women and feel

terrible that anything I might have done

could have put her in an uncomfortable

situation.” Some, like the one proffered by

Charlie Rose, posited that he was just part

of the greater learning curve and that “all of

us” were evolving together and “coming to

a newer and deeper recognition of the pain

caused by conduct in the past.” Others, like

the one written by comedian Louis C.K.,

claimed that he was going to “step back and

A MAN’S WORLD

Reckoning with misogyny in the age of Me Too

by CLIO CHANG

Clio Chang is a politics reporter whose work fre-

quently appears in Jezebel, The Intercept, The

Nation, and The New Republic.