In the future, after “racial equality” has been declared, people of all races will be free to sell their labor power to the highest bidder, without fear of being harassed or discriminated against. The police will only arrest the “bad guys,” and only murder those who are seriously “disturbed.” Such are the grotesque dreams of the liberal imagination.
But racial equality is nothing more than a contradiction in terms, an oxymoron, because “race” as a concept describes the structured, hierarchical organization of human beings based on their physical characteristics. Race is not just a lens through which people view themselves and others that can be modified to eliminate discrimination. It is also a mode of abstract domination that structures the world we live in so that some lives “matter” more than others, structuring inequality in a way that is impossible to overcome on its own terms.
To give one example of many, the global economy presupposes a certain kind of destitution for the people of the global south, whose sole purpose, from the perspective of capitalism, is to maintain the conditions under which their resources can be extracted and transported north. Thus, their liberation entails not only a change in legislation or thought that formally recognizes them as “equal,” but a change in the structure of the global economy so that their lives are not systematically devalued.
This is nothing new. Thinkers and activists have long understood the fact that race is a construction of capitalist modernity, and that race is embedded in many of its institutions. And yet, the left clings to the concept of racial equality, as if it is somehow possible to achieve egalitarian relations between racialized people.
This is demonstrated by recent demands to “police the police,” which are so basic that even the cops can get behind them. In the eyes of some protesters, police aren’t problematic, so long as they are trained and surveilled properly so that their violence is distributed evenly among all sectors of the population. It’s as if white supremacy were just some sort of misunderstanding that can be cleared up with a two-week training program.
Instead of seeking to abolish race, these reformist positions only affirm it as a valid and positive concept that simply needs to be adjusted. Hence why they are so popular among white people, who would like nothing more than to be able to live in the exact same world while they cheer from the sidelines as non-whites try to achieve the same social and economic status as them.
What is needed is a negative critique of race, one that seeks to abolish race in all of its manifestations. This means addressing not only interpersonal race relations, but also the more structured forms of racial hierarchy that constitute the global socioeconomic order. It is not just the cops in our neighborhoods that should be questioned, but the minerals in our phones.
With this theoretical orientation, the concept of “racial equality” appears as completely meaningless. No level of diversity within corporations or the government can negate the fact that these institutions depend on a global economy that systematically writes off the lives of certain racialized peoples. That there are non-white heads of state in the global south means very little for the resources of these regions, which are practically stolen for use in the north. Notions of “racial equality” are wholly inadequate for explaining this phenomenon and many others, meaning that a new critique is necessary if we are to address these issues.
To be clear, I am not trying to advocate for some sort of “color-blind” theory that neglects race. Rather, I am advocating for a theory that attempts to negate race. Race is not something to be ignored, or affirmed, but overcome. When people are racialized, their life becomes something that can be negotiated. Overcoming this means not striking a better deal, but tearing up the contract and refusing to bargain over human life.
Oliver Blackwell 