Amid a summer of unrest, as thousands across the country took to the streets to protest the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black men and women at the hands of police violence, many are looking where to turn to fight racism in their own communities.
At our own university, events such as the “I Can’t Breathe” open dialogue series have facilitated a space for students to discuss issues of race. Local organizations such as the New Panthers Initiative and the New Generation Freedom Fighters emerged to sustain the fight against police brutality and for the Black community in Johnson City.
Unfortunately, the grassroots were not the only ones ready to respond to the moment. Within days of the protests starting, companies infamous for mistreating and exploiting their workers scrambled to release somber statements parroting the language of social justice groups.
A slew of human resources-approved diversity training manuals shot to the top of virtually every bestseller list. The professional world was ready for a rebrand: same product, new woke packaging. In real time, we watched as corporations maneuvering to absolve themselves of accusations of bigotry drained the movement of much of its radical potential.
While some spoke out against the cynical profiteering by the professional classes off the actual pain of Black people across the country, these gestures were largely accepted and sometimes even celebrated. Very little has materially changed for people of color across the country since the protests. Meanwhile, marketing departments are reaping the rewards of their ability to spin this moment to their benefit.
Attitudes may be beginning to change, but for many, the realities of racism and racialized capitalism are more apparent than ever. As millions face unemployment and eviction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need for economic justice, in part as a means to achieve racial justice, is incredibly clear.
The singular focus paid to individual acts of prejudice often obscures the structural reality of racism. Simply put, racism can not be solved by individual consumer choices such as shopping from businesses with woke marketing, buying the books of Robin DiAngelo or paying to attend diversity workshops.
Ending racism will be a difficult project, particularly in our age of deep alienation, as it is one that will require a communal reckoning with our history and a dramatic change in the economic system that disadvantages working people.
Anti-racism cannot be managed from the top down. As long as race is used as a bludgeon to divide the working class from recognizing their shared interests, racism will exist in perpetuity. A system that necessitates ruthless competition between workers will never be able to end the prejudices that keep it alive.
How, then, can someone at our university actually take part in anti-racist action? By getting involved in our community with local organizations aimed at materially improving the lives of people of color, reading the works of Black revolutionaries such as Frantz Fanon and Angela Davis and joining a union where workers, not bosses or management, set the terms for what the fight for racial justice looks like.
Only when we are able to identify the parasitic relationship of corporations to liberatory movements can we truly begin the march toward justice.
