Anti-racist gains that cannot be reversed must instead be rearticulated by opponents.

Evidence

The racial upheavals of the 1960s ruled out any attempt to return to legally enforced segregation. They also precluded mounting a defense of inequality rooted in the “scientific racism” of the immediate past. Since the political gains of anti-racist movements could not be easily reversed, they had to be rearticulated. The key device used by the new right to challenge these gains was the innovative use of “code words” in its political messaging. — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 187

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the concept of political ‘rearticulation’ — reorganizing the meaning of rival movements’ gains rather than directly opposing them.
• XREF: Connects to Gramsci’s concept of hegemony and to the reader’s knowledge of how ideological consent is manufactured, not just coerced.