Soviet propaganda made American racism a national security concern.

Evidence

Concerns with racism extended beyond civil society to the US government fighting the Cold War. The Soviet Union pointed to rampant anti- Black and anti-Asian racism in its claims that American democracy was a fraud. American racism became a national security issue. As a result, the United States needed to exude the moral high ground to obtain cooperation from non-European nations in its Cold War policy of Communist containment. But the narrative that American democracy was superior to Communist dictatorship was not credible without civil rights reforms. Nor could the US government credibly claim that American democracy brought freedom to all its citizens. — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 465 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Cold War geopolitics made American racism a national security liability.; Cold War competition with the Soviets made domestic racism a national security liability — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes…, 465; Soviet propaganda about US racism forced Cold War-era civil rights reforms — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project: A New American Origin…, 1275 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Cold War competition with the Soviets made domestic racism a national security liability #expands (0.92) — Sahar F. Aziz, The Racial Muslim, 465