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Learning Objectives
By the end of the chapter, the student will be able to do the following:
- Understand different frames for gaining a more racially just world.
- Differentiate between a human rights and civil rights framework.
- Draw on intersectionality in order to pursue racial justice.
- Understand the meaning of racial empathy.
- Account for the connections of capitalism and racism.
Chapter Summary
Racial justice refers to a world without oppression based on race. There are many definitions of racial justice, including Yamamoto’s four aspects of recognition, responsibility, reconstruction, and reparations; a civil rights approach; and a human rights approach. A civil rights approach or “freedoms from” is also described as negative rights because equality is not a promised outcome. A human rights approach or “freedoms for” allows for positive rights because equality is a guaranteed outcome.
Intersectional analyses help to bring about a racial democracy. Paying attention to unique positionalities of group members in terms of race, class, and gender enables a multiplicity of justice-seeking and just outcomes. Struggles for a more racially democratic world continue today in many arenas because racism is constituted from ideologies and systemic oppression. Examples of justice-seeking more currently include the struggle against housing foreclosures, the fight for undocumented youth to stay in the U.S. as full members of society, and the activism at the Standing Rock Reservation against the building of an oil pipeline. The oppression of capitalism must be considered, as well as how capitalism contributes to racism. Empathy is required in order to recognize the particular harms racism takes for each group. Feagin uniquely argues for holding a fully representational Constitutional Convention. One approach to racial justice-seeking will not be enough. Although racial inequality in everyday life is high, taking action is possible while having a wider vision of what needs to be done.