Racial democracy’s promises are always partial and never fully attainable

Evidence

Racial democracy offered the possibility of belonging and social participation; its definition as racial, however, indicated that they could only ever be partial, limited, always begrudging and incomplete. Better perhaps than not or never, but so nebulous as to virtualize the possibilities, making them ever beyond concrete grasp. Motivating and exasperating, seemingly possible but never quite within reach. — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1219

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the concept of ‘virtualization’ / deferred promise in other critical race theory texts, and to the broader argument about US vs European race discourse the author draws.