Cordial racism legitimizes inequality by refusing to name race as its cause

Evidence

Cordial racism trades on race without naming it as such. For where no race, no racial harm. So no racism. Evaporation alchemizes the structural into the individual, the pernicious into the cordial, the public behind the veil of ignorant privacy, racisms into the virtues of mestizaje/mesticagem. Into mixture. Mergence is emergence from the chilling fog of race – into denial, the left behind, the new untouchable, the shadow of the shadow. We no longer need to do anything about this, for there is nothing to do. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1798 (#expands, via linked claim)

No race here. No imagination of the racial because the terms are deadened, taken away. And so no conceivable recognition of the marks of its effects, let alone of the effects themselves. Buried. But buried alive. Tolerance expresses these denials directly. Acknowledging begrudged presence as desire of willed absence. The refusal of equality – of standing, of access, of outcome – in the name of an ecumenical largesse, a hostile generosity. Tolerance is always expressed towards the tolerated, as I have argued elsewhere, from the tolerating agent’s position of power. I have the power and position to tolerate you. I am active; you the tolerated passive, powerless to affect me in my tolerating save to get under my skin, make me even less accepting of your distinction. My social power to tolerate turns on all those like me likewise disposed towards you. Terminating angels. Race disappears into the seams of sociality, invisibly holding the social fabric together even as it tears apart. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 835 (#expands, via linked claim)

What she terms “enlightened sexism” is the notion that American women have achieved full equality with men as the result of the feminist movement and therefore not only is feminism no longer needed, but advancing sexist stereotypes is seen as funny or harmless. Enlightened sexism has the potential to undo feminist progress in a similar way that post-race ideologies have the potential to overlook and deny continued racist practices. — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 588 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cordial racism works by erasing race as a category and denying harm — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race: Reflections on…, 1798; Enlightened sexism and post-race ideology similarly deny continued inequality — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race…, 588; Declaring color-blindness cannot undo entrenched racialized inequality — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1840 (+4 more)

Related

• Declaring color-blindness cannot undo entrenched racialized inequality (similarity 0.83)
• Cordial racism works by erasing race as a category and denying harm (similarity 0.83)
• Tolerance is a power-laden denial that masks racial inequality (similarity 0.81)
• Enlightened sexism and post-race ideology similarly deny continued inequality (similarity 0.81)
• Denouncing race itself becomes the new racism’s containment tactic. (similarity 0.80)
• The apparent erasure of race and the ongoing racial ordering are one process (similarity 0.80)
• Europe denies its racism by recasting racial exclusion as class cultural or religious problems (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Cordial racism works by erasing race as a category and denying harm #expands (0.92) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1798
• Enlightened sexism and post-race ideology similarly deny continued inequality #expands (0.80) — Evelyn Alsultany, Arabs and Muslims in the Media, 588
• Tolerance is a power-laden denial that masks racial inequality #expands (0.80) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 835
• Declaring color-blindness cannot undo entrenched racialized inequality #corroborates (0.78) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 1840
• Racelessness individualizes and personalizes what is actually structural racism #corroborates (0.75)
• Neoliberal discourse encourages racism without being itself racist #expands (0.75)
• An emergent social norm punishes accusations of racism, not racism itself #contradicts (0.72) — Cristian Tileagă, The Nature of Prejudice, 523