Affirmative action was recast as the truest form of racism.

Evidence

Indeed, for neoliberals committed to privatizing individualization, the standard racism – rewarding people for no reason other than their membership in a racial group – came to be affirmative action (or “positive discrimination” in Europe). Liberalism’s very instrument for undoing the effects of racism became neoliberalism’s poster child for the condition of racism itself. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1762

Categorization

• XREF: A striking inversion of the standard-historical narrative; ties to threatened-privilege zero-sum logic where group-based remedy is itself coded as group-based reward. — connects to: Neoliberalism redefined affirmative action as the racism it was designed to oppose — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1762; Colorblind ideology reframes race consciousness itself as the racism to be ended. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 241; Color-blind rhetoric revived segregationism by condemning discussion of racism as itself racist — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 1162

Broader Connections

• Neoliberalism redefined affirmative action as the racism it was designed to oppose #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1762
• Colorblind ideology reframes race consciousness itself as the racism to be ended. #corroborates (0.80) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 241
• Color-blind rhetoric revived segregationism by condemning discussion of racism as itself racist #corroborates (0.80) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1162