You will have seen memes on social media that catalog the accomplishment of Black people. And well enough, the accomplishments are impressive. The question is, what is the intended outcome of this kind of outreach? The contemporary American antiracist movement is a strange thing. To hear most people tell it, it has become more and more radical over time, more uncompromising. And yet there is terribly little to show for this effort in the past several decades, and not even really a revolutionary set of demands, aside from a police abolition effort that has already been watered down to the point of meaninglessness or outright abandoned. What we have instead is this weird PR campaign for Black people, where the assumed purpose of antiracist discourse is to create general good vibes about them, with an implicit audience of white people. But Black people don't need white people to think they're cool or good or noble. Black people have specific material problems like low incomes, poor access to health care, lack of access to safe and clean living environments, massive wealth gaps, political disenfranchisement.... BlackLivesMatter turns 7 this year. What are the consensus BLM policy positions on any of these questions? There are none. Instead there's constant reference to injustices with no plan for solving them and praise for Black achievements that are tied to no meaningful political purpose.
antiracism is not a PR campaign for Black people
antiracism is not a PR campaign for Black…
antiracism is not a PR campaign for Black people
You will have seen memes on social media that catalog the accomplishment of Black people. And well enough, the accomplishments are impressive. The question is, what is the intended outcome of this kind of outreach? The contemporary American antiracist movement is a strange thing. To hear most people tell it, it has become more and more radical over time, more uncompromising. And yet there is terribly little to show for this effort in the past several decades, and not even really a revolutionary set of demands, aside from a police abolition effort that has already been watered down to the point of meaninglessness or outright abandoned. What we have instead is this weird PR campaign for Black people, where the assumed purpose of antiracist discourse is to create general good vibes about them, with an implicit audience of white people. But Black people don't need white people to think they're cool or good or noble. Black people have specific material problems like low incomes, poor access to health care, lack of access to safe and clean living environments, massive wealth gaps, political disenfranchisement.... BlackLivesMatter turns 7 this year. What are the consensus BLM policy positions on any of these questions? There are none. Instead there's constant reference to injustices with no plan for solving them and praise for Black achievements that are tied to no meaningful political purpose.