Minimizing subaltern racism blinds antiracists to how steep their fight is

Evidence

Whatever the reasons, the consequences of minimizing racial subalterns’ racism are significant. If antiracists suppose that people of color are, in general, rejecting whitening, critical of white supremacist values and the racial democracy myth, and for the most part, sympathetic to antiracist political projects, then this prompts a particular set of research and political questions. With such an image of the racial terrain in mind, the absence of antiracist activism becomes construed as a problem with movement organizations and their leadership. It presupposes a more advanced moment of mobilization than exists. It is assumed that there is an audience waiting to be captured, when in fact an audience needs to be created. Consequently, it is not appreciated how steep an uphill battle antiracist activists face, which increases the likelihood of unfair aspersions being cast their way. Moreover a number of matters that should be rigorously investigated are likely to be ignored. To take one example, if scholars are under the impression that most nonwhites have a sophisticated understanding of white supremacy, then researchers are less inclined to explore the reasons why persons of color have restricted notions of racism, and therefore the search for effective means of increasing racial literacy will be inhibited. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3654

Categorization

• SEED: Essay angle: how movement organizers’ false assumptions about their intended audience distort strategy — the gap between ‘an audience waiting to be captured’ and one that ‘needs to be created.’