Tim Wise

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tim Wise
Born	October 4, 1968 Nashville, Tennessee

Tim Wise (born October 4, 1968 in Nashville, Tennessee) is an American anti-racist activist and writer.

Contents 1 Background 2 Criticism 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Background

Wise is Jewish.^[1] Wise attended Tulane University in New Orleans and received his B.A. there, and went on to receive his antiracism training at the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond, also located in New Orleans. Wise is among the most prominent anti-racist writers and activists in the U.S., having given lectures in 48 different states, and on over 400 college campuses. He has trained a multitude of teachers, corporate employees and law enforcement officers in methods for dismantling racism in their institutions. 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 neo-Nazi 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 New Orleans, including the Louisiana Coalition for Tax Justice, 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 had been born and reared, and continued his work around the U.S., gaining a national reputation for his work in defense of affirmative action.

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 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. His memoir, White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son, is taught at hundreds of colleges and high schools across the nation.

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, Wise argues that institutions have been set up to privilege those who are white, and that subtle, impersonal, and even facially race-neutral policies contribute to racism and racial inequality today.

Wise has also been a vocal critic of President George W. Bush and of both the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, which he considers racist and imperialist aggressions, and of all of the Bush administration's post-9/11 foreign and domestic policies.

[edit] Criticism

His main detractors, prominent conservatives such as David Horowitz and Dinesh D'Souza, accuse him of supporting racism against whites.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• http://www.timwise.org/ — official website
• MP3 of Tim Wise speaking on Institutionalized Racism in American Society
• Debate between Tim Wise and Dinesh D'Souza (held at Evergreen State College, 1996).

Persondata
NAME
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION
DATE OF BIRTH
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH