Treating race as a form of ethnicity enables blaming the victim.

Evidence

In Racial Formation in the United States (1986) Michael Omi and Howard Winant take the view that the inclusive view of ethnicity tends to ignore different historical experiences, leading to the possibility of lending support to the strategy of “blaming the victim.” A conceptual differentiation between race and ethnicity would, by contrast, help to explain why, because of race, group distinctiveness is not altered by longstanding adoption of majority norms and culture. Finally, the distinction would open up more scholarly interest in, for example, ethnicity among blacks (Omi and Winant, 1986:2Iff.) This argument marks a particular counterpoint to Gordon’s maxim that “all races are ethnic groups,” which could be misunderstood as inviting a method of regarding all blacks as only one ethnic group, because they are also a “race.” Races may be, and often are, ethnically differentiated (African Americans and Jamaicans in the United States), just as ethnic groups may be racially differentiated (Hispanics - who “may be of any race,” as census takers know). — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 702

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays out Omi and Winant’s core reason for distinguishing race from ethnicity: subsuming race under ethnicity ignores divergent historical experience and invites victim-blaming.
• XREF: Directly grounds the vault’s definition of racial formation and the race-versus-ethnicity distinction; ties to Omi & Winant origin claims used elsewhere. — connects to: Treating race as mere ethnicity obscures racism and blames victims.; Ethnicity theory blamed people of color rather than structural injustice for failed reform — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 55; Post-civil-rights reform failure forced ethnicity theory toward blaming people of color — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 55 (+5 more)
• QUESTION: The ‘blaming the victim’ charge against inclusive ethnicity models deserves unpacking - worth chasing how Gordon’s maxim would endorse victim-blaming in practice.

Broader Connections

• Treating race as mere ethnicity obscures racism and blames victims. #corroborates (0.97)
• Ethnicity theory blamed people of color rather than structural injustice for failed reform #exemplifies (0.95) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 55
• Post-civil-rights reform failure forced ethnicity theory toward blaming people of color #exemplifies (0.85) — Michael Omi, Howard Winant, Racial Formation in the United States, 55
• Newly-White immigrants adopted victim-blaming to preserve their racial privilege. #exemplifies (0.80)
• Blame localized to individual rogues erases systemic racism as a concept #expands (0.75) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 1874
• Uplift suasion shifts blame for racism onto the discriminator targets. #corroborates (0.75) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 775