Racecraft is the discursive machinery that makes anti-Muslim racism seem rational

Evidence

The following exchange encapsulates the entire “expertise” of Frank Gaffney. … RCA: Can you explain to us the principles of sharia law and the conflict with the Constitution as you’ve seen it practiced? I’m not asking you a legal question. As you’ve seen these practices. Gaffney: No. To be sure, there are other moves and fallacies that are present, however, the point here is not to be comprehensive or exhaustive. Rather, this is an example of the kind of deconstruction, mapping, and “reading back” that must be done to recognize the trade routes and traffic in the racecraft of discursive strategies that normalize stereotypes about racially subordinated groups into commonsense. In other words, racecraft is what makes racism against Muslims and Blacks seem rational and justified. — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 411

Categorization

• DEFINE: This directly articulates the racecraft mechanism - racism against Muslims and Blacks being normalized into commonsense - central to the reader’s whole project.
• XREF: Payoff of the Fields sisters’ ‘racecraft’ borrowing the reader explicitly sought; directly comparable to Aziz’s ‘Racial Muslim’ historical argument about benign racial identity produced through legal practice. — connects to: Racism creates races through practice, and the practice hides itself as its own evidence — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 322; Critical Discourse Analysis exposes latent beliefs disguised as neutral metaphors.; The same racecraft tools operate against every subordinated minority across centuries — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 455 (+15 more)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia operates as entrenched American race politics producing anti-Muslim racism #expands (0.85) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 72
• Islam comes to function as a race through racecraft that erases internal ethnic differences #expands (0.85) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 516
• Racecraft frames race as the cause and racism as its effect, hiding the reverse #expands (0.85) — Cyra Akila Choudhury, Racecraft and Identity in the Emergence…, 520
• Anti-Muslim racism operates as a logic of white supremacy, not mere prejudice #expands (0.82) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 1054
• Anti-Muslim racism operates through a distinct racial logic #expands (0.80) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 77
• Islamophobia functions as an alibi for contemporary race-making #corroborates (0.80) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 173
• Anti-Muslim racialization is unstable, contested, and co-produced with anti-racism #expands (0.80) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 193
• Islamophobia is best understood as an ideology akin to racism #qualifies (0.78) — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 910
• Racializing Muslims holds race as both fixed and fluid #expands (0.75) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 105
• Islamophobia is increasingly theorized as a form of racism rather than mere religious prejudice #responds-to (0.75)
• Anti-Muslim racism is the operationalization of the causal factor Islamophobia #qualifies (0.75) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 133