The dangers for Progressives in Prioritizing an Anti-Racism Strategy

The dangers for Progressives in Prioritizing an Anti-Racism Strategy

The following brief comment has come to my attention, one of many that has emerged as a response to the recent election, that argues that Progressives must place in the forefront of its program an anti-racism strategy. While addressing problems of racial discrimination remains a vital necessity, I believe that prioritizing anti-racism, while morally satisfying, is a losing strategy for the Left. I’m sure my position is quite controversial among Progressives, and I intend to spell it out in greater detail in the near future. But here, I present that brief statement, followed by my response, in the hope of generating constructive dialogue.

The brief statement:

“The central strategic argument is that colorblind struggles against class inequality and class-blind struggles against racism are both doomed to fail. For the sake of ending racism, it’s essential to have good class politics — both for strategic reasons (it’s necessary to amass the movements needed to actually beat racism) as well as substantive ones (undoing class inequality would help undo many, although certainly not all, of the material underpinnings of racism). But it’s just as true that ending class inequality in the United States requires good antiracist politics. History bears this out. The struggle of black people against racism in the United States has, for decades, been an explosive source of energy and initiative for the class struggle more broadly. The civil rights struggle of the 1950s and ’60s sparked a variety of other left-wing social movements and increased the size and militancy of many trade unions, especially in the public sector.”

My Response:
To my mind, the civil rights struggle of the 50s and 60s was not against racism, but against segregation, esp in public accommodations, and for the right to vote. MLK said it well when he said that he was not focused on white people’s attitudes, but on their behavior. It was not how they “feel” about black people, but how they “act” with respect to them, especially in matters of political and economic rights. I think that point remains critical. Racism is a moral judgement of peoples character and attitudes, as well as a moral indictment of those people. But how do you know how people feel? Can one even be so sure about how one feels? But you can be pretty sure that such charges will not be well received, and will place the targets of such charges on the defensive, and much less likely to be prepared to listen to you and to work with you. But it is not their feelings that should be the object of public policy. Those are matters for psychotherapy. Our job is to mobilize the public — to build a movement — to effect changes in public policy. And we should not begin by attacking needed allies, and calling them names. That’s why I think it is important to clearly distinguish claims of racism from education about the structural disadvantages occasioned by race, by racial policies both intentional and unintentional, or unappreciated, as is obviously the case in housing segregation so well documented by Ta-Nahisi Coates in his article on Reparations in the Atlantic magazine. We need to build an inclusive progressive movement that can speak to the serious concerns of all Americans who have been systematically undermined by prevailing Neo-Liberal economic policies.
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