I've been doing a lot of reading for my dissertation (revamping my lit review chapter). On today's agenda is an edited volume, The Making and Unmaking of Whiteness. One of the chapters outlines Omi's (2001) study of several antiracist organizations. In the chapter he states, “Their presence, organizational form, and practice suggest
that antiracist work has entered a new phase, one that embraces a vision of
social justice that extends beyond formal legal guarantees of racial equality
and equal opportunity. This vision of social justice argues that ‘equality
under the law’ is not enough. What is required is a hard look at how racial
meanings and practices are suffused into patterns of both everyday and
institutional life and how they indelibly shape individual consciousness,
collective identities, corporate actions, and government policies” (p. 289).
The quotation automatically made me think back to Hillary Clinton's encounter with Black Lives Matter activists a little over a month ago (http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/politics/hillary-clinton-black-lives-matter-meeting/) and the continuing debacle in Kentucky.
The meaning behind and necessity of antiracist (and other social justice-oriented) organizations' change in strategy has become increasingly apparent since the July 2013 acquittal of George Zimmerman, the November 2014 and March 2015 exonerations of Darren Wilson, and the June 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. "Equality under the law" is only as good as the government's ability and integrity when it comes to enforcing said law. If we are to allow our children to be murdered without holding the killers responsible, what good are laws against murder and the use of excessive force in policing? If we are to continue to discriminate against our fellow citizens who are gay and deny same-sex partners marriage licenses, of what use is legalizing same-sex marriage?
So....
To Hillary, there is more than one way to pursue social justice. Activism can take on a myriad of forms. Try to keep an open mind. Just because Black Lives Matter activists are taking an approach that you don't understand, doesn't mean it's wrong.
To Black Lives Matter activists, keep doing what you're doing! After all, in the words of Albert Einstein, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Sometimes a different approach is exactly what is needed to push the conversation forward and achieve results.
Omi, M. (2001). (E)racism:
Emerging practices of antiracist organizations. In B.B. Rasmussen, E.
Klinenberg, I.J. Nexica, & M. Wray (Eds.), The making and unmaking of whiteness (pp. 266-293). Durham, NC:
Duke University Press.
