Iraq war anxieties diverted attention from institutional racism against black people.

Evidence

At the same time, the US invasion and occupation of Iraq and the broader anxieties about global Muslim mobilities have drawn attention effectively away from more traditional institutional racisms, most notably against people of sub-Saharan African descent. As in earlier wars directed against those regarded as rogue states, the present intervention continues to structure the lives of black people globally, only now much less visibly. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 270