Texas Tech University

Visiting Post-Doctoral Fellow's Talk

 

“Racism's Revenge: How White Supremacy Undermines White Freedom”  

April 14, 2022
Weeks Hall Second Floor Foyer

Sebastian Ramirez

Racism is often understood as an ensemble of affects, attitudes, beliefs, practices, and/or institutions that benefits White people at the expense of BIPOC people. Although this approach captures important truths about the history and contemporary persistence of White supremacy, it faces significant challenges in the current sociopolitical context. In this talk I discuss two such challenges – namely, political infeasibility and white backlash – and highlight the need to understand White supremacy as a double-edged sword. I then draw on W.E.B. Du Bois to sketch a partial account of White supremacy as a double-edged sword. Specifically, I argue that White supremacy has offered White people cultural and practical resources for coping with economic domination at the expense of BIPOC people. The consequence, however, has been worsening economic domination for everyone, including White people. To conclude, I illustrate this approach through a brief discussion of Trump support and the January 6th Capitol riot.