William Julius Wilson claimed class replaced race in determining Black outcomes.

Evidence

The University of Chicago sociologist attempted to solve the racial paradox of the late 1970s: the rise of the Black middle class and the fall of the Black poor. Wilson characterized the post–World War II era “as the period of progressive transition from racial inequalities to class inequalities.” The “old barriers” of racial discrimination that restricted “the entire black population” had transformed into the “new barriers” restricting the Black poor. “Class has become more important than race in determining black access to privilege and power,” Wilson wrote. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 1068

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines Wilson’s class-over-race thesis, which the reader needs to place into the three-way scheme — a quintessential assimilationist argument Kendi would classify as racist.
• XREF: Wilson’s thesis is the classic test case for the reader’s stated discomfort — assimilationism as a racist position — and a candidate counterexample where ideas (class analysis) seem to precede policy.