Race exists only as a specter produced by racism, not as reality

Evidence

It is more accurate as a consequence to speak of a racially fashioned or created (or more commonly, if awkwardly, of a “racialized”) group than of a racial group since race is a product of racism and not vice versa. It is also and relatedly important to note that the now popular if overused notion of “racialization” and its cognates (“racialize,” “racialized”) are ambiguous. They fail in their often facile usage to distinguish descriptive context from normative critique, analysis from dismissal, processes of race-making from critical rejection of racist implications. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 107 (#expands, via linked claim)

For decades, Critical Race Theory (“CRT”) and Latina & Latino Critical Legal Theory (“LatCrit”) scholars have debated the construction of race and the operations of racism in the United States. This article uses this rich literature as well as the work of historians Cedric Robinson and Barbara J. Fields and sociologist Karen E. Fields to argue that race is a specter or a myth and that we should take its unreality much more seriously than we do. In other words, although racism exists, race itself is not real, it is not a fact, and it is not immutable. Furthermore, this article argues, along with Robinson, that racism produces not only the specter of race but fluid identities as it addresses itself to specific and identifiable groups of people. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 39 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• recurring: this claim recurs 4 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Race emerges from prior racist practice, not from perceived difference — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 32; Racism is real but race is only an idea manufactured by racist practice.; Races are produced by racism, not by biology — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 76 (+13 more)

Broader Connections

• Race is a product of racism, so groups are racialized rather than racial. #expands (1.00) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 107
• Racism is real while race itself is a myth #corroborates (0.95) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 39
• Racism is real but race is only an idea manufactured by racist practice. #corroborates (0.90)
• Races are produced by racism, not by biology #corroborates (0.85) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 76
• Race is a product of racism, not its cause. #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 107
• Racism creates races through practice, and the practice hides itself as its own evidence #expands (0.85) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 322
• Race’s specificity is positional rather than essential yet remains real #complicates (0.75)
• Race is a political and social construct, not a scientific category #qualifies (0.75)
• Denying race as fiction is a reaction against imposed being #expands (0.75)