Waiting for more of my fellow European-Americans to realize that our privilege isn't unassailable. Love this reframing of the issue to a global one. US empire is terrorizing people around the world. We will never be able to dismantle oppression at home without also taking apart the system of terror we have built outside of US borders.
Hey Jen, I totally agree. And also we need to connect with those who are likeminded outside US borders in order to have greater leverage here. As the genocide in Palestine has shown us, we have a lot of power but limited numbers.
I think due to our “cultural progress” many think that things are less dire than they are. I understand what you mean though - the numbers don’t fully reflect the pain. We must, nevertheless, remain steadfast.
I would attribute that mind-set to something different than "cultural progress," Pamela. Something more like indoctrination, brainwashing, willful ignorance, etc. Stupidity. Or personal levels of comfort for which many people would rather just put their heads in the sand than risk losing by facing the truth - which is frightening and depressing. The "numbers" DO fully reflect the pain - it's people's minds that aren't reflecting properly. People are afraid of change, even if it will improve their lives and affect the world for the better. That may be why many refuse to recognize just what dire straits we find ourselves in. Because it will take courage, sacrifice, commitment and WORK to effect change.
I feel like because of all the public places where there are Black faces now makes it look to many - especially white people, but many Blacks too - like there's been progress and most people aren't really aware of the numbers. Also, many don't want to feel that the Civil Rights movement was a failure at achieving the goal of equality. This said, there is a lot of organizing taking place, but also the reality that nothing has worked yet... I think it would take collective sacrifice to really make change. But the generations post '68 have been given our walking orders to make the dream come true by going to work for corporations and moving into white neighborhoods. Alas.
Dear Pamela, I stopped my description at "well-written and informative" only because I thought it might take too much space to include my other thoughts on the issue. I very much appreciated your providing definitions, differences and histories of the terms 'Affirmative Action' and 'DEI,' and the reasons why neither was allowed to achieve their stated objectives ("affirmative action and DEI" were promoted as "instruments of racial justice when, in reality, they were mechanisms of political appeasement that benefited others far more than they did us.").
Enhancing the usefulness of the excellent content in this essay, the layout, high-lighted talking points and organization were extremely helpful; as were your references to several Global Black Strategies: Structural Power Beyond The Need for Self-Sufficiency, Reparations, Pan-Africanism, Alignment with the Global South, and Human Rights Law.
I must confess, Pamela, that I'm sometimes disturbed by otherwise effective essays, posts, and commentaries that seem to have all of the facts and details right but which somehow fail to appropriately convey just how dire are the circumstances being discussed. It's very frustrating. But the following 3 paragraphs of yours, along with much else included in this essay, give me hope and encouragement that a number of mindful and perceptive people, such as yourself, understand the rut that we find ourselves trapped in and the need for less description and more action in this global struggle for sanity.
"For decades, we have been playing defense—fighting to protect policies like affirmative action, voting rights, and DEI from being dismantled. But playing defense means we are always reacting to attacks rather than setting the agenda. As long as we remain in this defensive position, we are merely fighting to preserve policies that were never designed to bring true liberation anyway."
"At this point in the struggle, we must shift our focus toward going on the offensive. Instead of fighting for DEI, we should be demanding reparations. Instead of celebrating “first Black CEOs,” we should be creating Black-owned financial institutions. Instead of waiting for white institutions to give us a seat at the table, we should be building the tables ourselves—globally."
"The time for symbolic inclusion is over. It is time to reject the illusion of progress and demand real transformation. Tweaking at the edges will never change the system, and therefore, it will never solve this problem. A thousand points of light are no match for the sun. We could go around and around like this for another 400 years—or we can break the cycle and demand structural change."
I appreciate the details and the thought that went into your essay. I want to ask a question for clarification. Is it your position that Black people have made no progress since 1960? Or is it that what progress we have made owes nothing to DEI and affirmative action? Thank you.
Thanks, Peter! Well, there are fewer Black people living in poverty and more than 300% more college grads...but on measures of fairness such as the wealth gap and measures of security like homeownership, the reality is that we have not made economic progress. Yes, we have made cultural progress, but not economic - with the important exception of poverty levels. But that is the sad state of affairs. So, if the goals of these programs were justice, they have failed. I think that affirmative action and DEI create an illusion of progress that is not supported by the data. Further, they serve as kinds of psychological hate crimes by eroding our self-worth and allowing others to inaccurately look down on us, adding to their false feeling of superiority. In any ways that we may have gained access to education and jobs due to DEI, it has not resulted in economic justice. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for this thought provoking question.
Well, I argue that AA/DEI were never intended to be the solution to the wealth gap. I argue they are a piece of a pantheon of solutions necessary for progress. There is no silver bullet. Turning to your alternative—-reparations and global south partnership. These are not silver bullets either. Let’s assume that we got reparations. (From Here To Equity Offers a formula I favor). Then what? How do you suggest reparations turn into equity in wealth? Does each individual get a share? I’m also not sure what a partnership with the global south looks like or how it is managed.
To reiterate, you raise valid and useful thoughts and I don’t think you intend the essay to be THE solution. I’d absolutely LOVE to have detailed and ongoing discussions about systematic solutions.
Well, the history of the impulse they came out of was to build toward equality in the case of affirmative action and equity in the case of DEI. There has been a 6% increase in Black employees - that's not nothing. But 20% for white women in the same period, so I think that's a problem. For me it's likely that that 6% gain would have happened without these policies. But you're right in pointing out that none of these "solutions" get at the big picture and end up not working due to multiple forces in our society.
In terms of reparations my feeling, and by no means am I an authority, is that how they are determined would need to be collective for there to be long term benefit. In most cases reparations are part of a process that results in them. They are part of a decision on the part of the majority in a society to rectify a past wrong that prevents moving forward cohesively into the future. So, yes I do think that reparations really must be a part of the solution, but almost never are they a full solution.
In terms of connecting with the global south I think efforts would need to be collaborative. There are organizing efforts in this direction. I think this is something that comes out of civil society and not governments and so it would be pretty flexible.
Thank you for another brilliant article, Ms. Brown. Don't mean to quibble, but I would like to add the effect that favoring US militarism over meaningful equality policy had in this country. There was a choice...war or morality. We chose war, like we always do.
“A door swung open in the late ’60s,” Modeste tells us. “And someone, something, sprang up and slammed it shut.”
So true, Paul! So true. We always choose war over humanity. But I do think with the recent awakening, the tides are changing. Thanks for your positive feedback and support!
Really good read - as usual with the Politricks Tick Box brigade, this has always been about being able to say something was being done without doing anything.
But I am going to ask a pointed question. I always find it difficult to understand how racial inequality conversations, articles etc manage to leave out and ignore the whole question of Native Americans, Latin origin people etc.
Why is that? As Fred Hampton so frequently highlighted, this struggle only gets won through solidarity…
That's a GREAT question. This is a short answer but I think it's something that needs a lot of discussion. I actually think there should be an internal discussion along the lines of a large scale meeting of some sort to see IF there could be deeper solidarity and a truly shared struggle. Frankly, I think a truth commission that is only amongst "minority" groups could be extraordinarily useful, because from a strategic perspective, I agree with you on general solidarity with the wide variety of other groups but especially Indigenous and Latinx folks.
But there's often an important gap that is perhaps experiential. In particular Indigenous and Latinx folk conditions tend to relate to settler colonialism. They have a history that predates 1492 per se. 1492 is an emerging framing that incorporates the Palestinian struggle, Indigenous and Latinx. But African Americans have no history prior to 1619. Blackness only exists in relation to whiteness and slavery. There is no American Black identity that does not begin with slavery. That is the unfortunate truth. I think it is unique. I think it is a specific crime against humanity. An injustice of this scale seems to require a specific remedy. In some sense dismantling white supremacy requires dismantling Black American identity. The only way to transform Black American identity is to remedy the crime committed. But how do you do that? It's like two puzzle pieces locked together. Perhaps, even "human nature" to keep your identity in tact.
So from movement strategy, it's difficult for Blacks to come together fully with other groups whose framing, explicit or implicit, stems from 1492. We didn't even exist then. Often in practicality this means: "hey we're all generally in the same class together and our fight is the same fight against white supremacy so let's come together along our shared interests." There's definitely truth to that. But because of an explicitly anti-Black dynamic in our society, other groups - and this is perhaps an overgeneralization - are able to distinguish themselves from Blackness and in so doing end up higher up on the racial hierarchy. Often those other groups advocate for collective remedy and not for specific remedy for Black Americans. Again this is along the lines of "we have it bad too, why don't you just forget your specific interests and unite with us so we all win."
But what do Black people win this way? We still will exist as a group only in relations to whiteness/slavery/Jim Crow/mass incarceration/redlining etc. This seems to me the critical jump that white settler colonialism took in 1619. So, the question is why those more advantaged groups and conscious whites don't unite with Blacks toward repair. Real repair for Blacks would transform Black identity and therefore white identity. But I think it may be as simple as that those groups don't see what's in it for them. So I suspect that while there's general solidarity, there are specifics that we don't come together on because of the differences in our experience and position.
Then on a practical side related to this article, I actually wanted to include the "DEI" data from all other groups. But the Trump Labor Department has apparently removed access to this data from their website subsequent to people reporting on it. At least that is what some are reporting. I think there may have been a report because the databases are complicated to understand without a lot of specifics on how the numbers are generated. I wanted to verify reporting that in every labor department measure, Blacks are at the bottom of every group included under "DEI" which has been reported but may or may not be accurate. I find it most questionable with regard to Native Americans. Presumably, they removed this report because it disproves their racist narrative that DEI brought unqualified Black people into educational and work spaces.
Another side of this is that I have not seen Indigenous or Latinx people raising their voices about this policy. The only people I have seen in an uproar are Black people. This is because we perceive this attack being directed toward us. Perhaps, because we were the group advocating for these policies coming out of the New Negro Movement into Civil Rights.
What are your thoughts? How do we fix this? What is our path forward?
Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you, but this needed a proper time slot to get into.
So, let me get to it. Yes, white supremacy exists. It is clearly visible all around the world and many of the most heinous crimes of our brief history on the planet have been committed with it as the slogan, or at least a convenient way to demonise people and therefore get buy in from the citizenry of the country perpetrating these crimes. And certainly, the further back one goes in history, the more fundamental this ideology was as a driving force. I'm pretty sure Tarquin and his ilk really did believe that Blacks, Chinese etc were brutes and inferior people when the whole kind of colonial expansion idea started to spread.
And of course, national and cultural identities exist. And should always exist in some ways.
However, as we get up to the modern day, despite lots of inhuman, short of intelligence people burping up racist, white supremacy type tropes, from the perspective of society's governing system, this is no longer a driving force. It is simply a convenient way to demonise people and obfuscate the reality of this system. There is only one value. Profit/power. Those in power, and I don't mean the admin bods in government, I mean the giant corporate entities and the legal system they have built around themselves are not sat there going "fuck these people because they are black, chinese, natives etc" - they are merely saying fuck these people because they are between us and our profit. And then the same systemic thought process finds a way to profit from fucking those people in the way of their profit.
And sure, this is easy enough for me to say. I had my ancient culture and language robbed from me by the same colonial system and indeed some of my ancestors were sold as slaves too (not as heinously, it wasn't passed from parent to offspring, as it was for people from Africa), but that was all long over really by the time I arrived. And I don't pretend to understand what black identity means for anyone, particularly in America.
But what I can see clearly happening is that all these identities are simply ways of ensuring the continued division of the peace loving, struggling populace of the world, a way to herd us into camps/groups/tribes and sow arguments which allow the societal system to continue its rape and pillage for profit in the shadow of the division and obfuscation caused by the idea of separate identities.
I'm me, you're you, they are them, we are us. And we are all now suffering (of course, there is a deeply troubling and unfair hierarchy to the suffering) under the same monolotithic systemic reality that spans the globe. The system is totally and utterly colour blind and ruthless. And until we hone in on it like a heat seeking missile with a unity of purpose, there will be no space or room for identities and cultures to thrive and express themselves - which they should. And be celebrated for, for the beauty and diversity and creative genius that abounds. That's where identity has true purpose, for me. But as a unifying force to fight the systemic hell hound, I think it is a poor strategy that leaves us unable to exploit the full force of our numbers, the only real strength we have.
Aren't meaningful conversations just bloody wonderful? :)
To answer your last question: YES! I love this kind of conversation and it's what I really love about Substack. Honestly, I think these are the conversations that are necessary if we ever want to evolve out of capitalism.
I agree with you that identity politics is a way of creating division and that the so-called capitalist class (1% or even .001%) could give two shits about race etc... and only care about money and power... The problem is that we are all attached to identity because it's what connects us to society and the smaller groups we rely on to survive. When people are only connected due to an atrocity and have no other connection, I guess I think there needs to be a clear response - I'm not sure what that would be other than forms of repair.
But also to be honest here, I fear that we are facing forces that are combining economic power and technology in ways that may naturally end all of our attachments to anything other than small groups we trust. I think we should ask and think *why* does identity seem to matter so much right now for us as humans? What are the large scale forces that are generating these forms of sociality? There are so many factors and we've simultaneously entered a new phase of technological change...perhaps an evolutionary one... Just thinking out loud...
Looking forward to continuing to think through this with you. Thanks so much for your thoughtful response.
Yeah, I agree that this is what is observable right now in society, but I think the answer lie beyond what we are currently observing and following.
Identity in very simple terms is the past. It is a collection of all the experiences, knowledge, emotional responses etc that we cling to psychologically and form what we know as our individual identity, which of course then happens with racial, national identity etc on a grander scale.
One objectively observable fact is that the universe, life etc is constant change. Our cellular structure is renewing all the time, copying and replacing etc. The Earth will never again be where/when it is now. The same with the sun, the moon and everything we observe in the heavens. No pair of inhalation/exhalations are the same.
So this whole idea of imposing an identity or fixed psychological imprint on an ever changing present, when all is said and done and all of it is stripped away to its core, seems rather crazy, right. At least, to me, it does. But then I am a little cracked.
None of which is to say that we don't have character, or personality or anything like that, but we are all so much more alike at our core than we realise. The same thought process (not the same thoughts), the same need for air, water, food, love and freedom from oppression etc - we are all so alike. And for me, that provides a unifying sense that is unbreakable. And one that has been the same since we first became humans. It transcends modern ideas of race, nations etc simply due to it being an observable reality. It feels like granite in the ground. Solid.
But, our society and all of its systems don't highlight this, instead only the individual, the different is celebrated. Which should be celebrated, but not at the expense of what fundamentally unites us. And of course, that is that way because this cherry picking of our psychological makeup serves power and status quo. Atomised groups are so much easier to keep under control than an aware collective.
I 100% agree with this. But what about the way that identity connects us to smaller groups and also cultural memory? I guess the question is also how could this form of identity be replaced with more unifying forms? Lots to unpack here...
yeah, you're correct. I don't see them as mutually exclusive things though - I think we can organise on a scale that recognises the fundamental connection between us all, and locally. But where the local thing begins to impact on the fundamentals, then I would say the fundamentals take precedence, because they are universal. Local cultural and identity things are not. And let´s not forget that the miniscule percentile have their own cultural identity and right now, that culture of theirs is like a wrecking ball to the universal.
But of course, to get to this kind of universal, well, that means we need to be prepared to let go of a lot of things, both internally and within our own groups, and not hold on to them because of some nostalgic idea of that is our culture. And that requires a lot of internal reflection - otherwise we'll just end up vomiting the systems norms back out again - the value of individual above all else.
So, yeah, it's extremely idealistic of me, because the system has been refining the people factory for a long time now, churning out humans that have accepted so many of the inhuman parts of our society as normal. Thus we have collectively brought society to the horrific position we now find it in. But there's a reality in that - this means we can also collectively change it, anytime we choose to. But we're so full of systemic indoctrination, that simple reality is lost in the noise of the system's insanity rolling around in our head.
Yeah, that is often true and how it has played out - but that’s only when it’s argued from a perspective contained within that societal norm set. In other words, dictated by the controller class, which is certainly mega white and the most resistant to any change - naturally, they have it fat!
I’d also say that implicit in what i’m saying is that this privileged set will have to give up the most. It is their identity that is the closest to the norms of the system, hence their position. And they most certainly need to put that identity aside for there to be any progress. Or we put it aside for them ( the more likely) - again, this has not been observable, nor even really floated as a possible in general mainstream discourse, as you rightly point out.
It’s also not to argue against things such as reparations. That’s certainly not what i’m advocating. Redistribution of wealth, resource etc would have to be part of any solution going forward. Alongside acknowledgement of many heinous crimes against humanity.
However, white identity is not universal. That is a particularly north american viewpoint that isn’t born out around the world. That’s not to say that i’ve not had privilege simply because of my colour, but it would less than many americans would suspect. Roll the clock back to london as recently as the 60s and early 70s, and on job advertisements it was common to see no blacks, no irish. Or on rental ads for flats, no blacks, no irish, no dogs.
Roll the clock back 250 years ago and the british watched 4 famines rip through the country in the space of decades, and still kept shipping food to the mainland. A language and culture brutally stamped out and several hundred thousand dead or fleeing to foreign lands.
In my own experience, i regularly got stopped going into london because of my surname and accent. Or got harassed in certain bars the moment i opened my mouth to speak. None of which is to claim equivalence with anyone or any identity’s experience.
And certainly european jews can lay a serious claim to having a fairly different white identity. And resultant unimaginable persecution and brutalisation in the not too distant past, right? Some of whom then fled to be the very thing they ran from, but that’s another conversation all together. And it doesn’t represent the entire Jewish identity, at all.
And the Russians. As white as white can be, but cripes have they been demonised and brutalised. Some other white folk having a national melt down went on the rampage and caused the death of 25 million Russians. Not to mention some other white folks who claimed to be their allies then promptly invaded them and then spent the next 70years blaming them for everything, basically.
The system uses identity and exploits it for its own end. An interesting example of this is how the british used a loose but not very separated caste system in india to create divisions where there weren’t really, in order to help them conquer and control. They awarded the top, loyal lackies, flooded the system with material about how the lackies were so much better etc etc.
We need to appreciate, celebrate and love identity as something beautiful to be shared with each other, and revelled in for the creative output and expressions of humanity that cultural identity produces. But in the fight against an inhumane system, identity groups as an organising principle will only cede power to the existing status quo, which ultimately will serve to continue the hierarchical system that sees certain identities and people trodden on more than others.
But hey, i could also be full of shit.
An interesting philosopher to read on the internal workings of culture, identity etc on the mind and its thought processes is Jiddhu Krishnamurti. Lots of his talks have been collected in books. To Be Human is my favourite.
I appreciate all of your points. I'm familiar with Krishnamurti and read that years ago, but it's surely worthy of reading again. I also am familiar with Buddhist perspectives that rightfully view the forms of identity we're discussing as transient and not true per se. And from a philosophical POV I very much agree. I think we get lost in the practical, however. Part is the history: all we have had so far is organizing based on identity groups: be it "civil rights" or "land back" or "women's rights" or even "class"... This is why I think it could be that to solve for this new forms of solidarity would need to emerge. Honestly, I think the downward pressure of global technological authoritarianism we have coming may resolve this for us. And I'm not sure this is a pessimistic thought.
Yeah, I have long had the feeling that we'll have to hit the proverbial iceberg first before anything really meaningful can happen. And that's both terrifyingly pessimistic but somehow optimistic too. I guess we might find out. Let's see how my years hold out..... and yeah, I think what it looks like is something quite difficult to conceive from being in the middle of where society is at as the moment. I think about it often in the hope that I have an aha moment, but as of yet..... blank!!
The demise of DEI hurts white women the most, ironically, followed by rich fat-cat white men who are CEOs.
Trump scapegoating it aside because red meat for the fascist base and resentment among white men alive/well in the broligarchy, it in words may have been well intended to lift up others but in actions it proved to be yet another example of corporate America’s performative wokeness with no concrete benefits given to two of the most marginalized groups of them all in Black men + Black women, and all LBGTQ+ Americans.
Count it down, Trump’s second term is going to give pain to heterosexual white women nationwide that all actual marginalized groups and minorities have known for several decades to even a century or two beforehand as well as white women in all Red states have experienced since 2021— and most voted for it just to spite every group but white men overall as they view themselves as better than the rest/superior yet that’s not how most white men see it period, 100%.
It's also possible that the structural gains that white women have made through DEI are here to stay and any losses they would make up by being married to white men who will be the only winners more than likely. How do you think the CEOs are going to factor in? Their obscene pay has become completely normalized. Also LGBQT+ Americans are mostly white and are not economically marginalized, even though they are socially.
Worth the long read, thanks and the question, Where are the benefits? Reminds me of Keep Your Eyes On The Prize, reparations. DEI etc. are roadblocks to progress meant to be temporary political footballs. International solidarity means the UN plus ICJ need to be bolstered especially as Nandeli Pandor says with a revived anti-apartheid commission and rapporteur. The struggle lives on for a new politics which rejects imposed solutions by the skewed nepopolitics of white inherited wealth to maintain structural inequities. The discussion of labor was informative.
Thanks! And yes, international solidarity seems like the best path forward. Of course the US ignores the UN but I think a movement asking for help from the UN bodies is especially needed now.
I agree, as Jen so eloquently stated, that your framing of this issue as global is groundbreaking. A movement away from integration and towards establishing strong powerful institutions is crucial. “If we choose transformation over illusion, maybe we can finally be free.” Well said Pamela!
Waiting for more of my fellow European-Americans to realize that our privilege isn't unassailable. Love this reframing of the issue to a global one. US empire is terrorizing people around the world. We will never be able to dismantle oppression at home without also taking apart the system of terror we have built outside of US borders.
Hey Jen, I totally agree. And also we need to connect with those who are likeminded outside US borders in order to have greater leverage here. As the genocide in Palestine has shown us, we have a lot of power but limited numbers.
Another excellent post, Pamela! Well-written and informative.
I think due to our “cultural progress” many think that things are less dire than they are. I understand what you mean though - the numbers don’t fully reflect the pain. We must, nevertheless, remain steadfast.
I would attribute that mind-set to something different than "cultural progress," Pamela. Something more like indoctrination, brainwashing, willful ignorance, etc. Stupidity. Or personal levels of comfort for which many people would rather just put their heads in the sand than risk losing by facing the truth - which is frightening and depressing. The "numbers" DO fully reflect the pain - it's people's minds that aren't reflecting properly. People are afraid of change, even if it will improve their lives and affect the world for the better. That may be why many refuse to recognize just what dire straits we find ourselves in. Because it will take courage, sacrifice, commitment and WORK to effect change.
I feel like because of all the public places where there are Black faces now makes it look to many - especially white people, but many Blacks too - like there's been progress and most people aren't really aware of the numbers. Also, many don't want to feel that the Civil Rights movement was a failure at achieving the goal of equality. This said, there is a lot of organizing taking place, but also the reality that nothing has worked yet... I think it would take collective sacrifice to really make change. But the generations post '68 have been given our walking orders to make the dream come true by going to work for corporations and moving into white neighborhoods. Alas.
Very well put, Pamela!
Thanks, Leon! I'm curious: what do you think of this issue?
Dear Pamela, I stopped my description at "well-written and informative" only because I thought it might take too much space to include my other thoughts on the issue. I very much appreciated your providing definitions, differences and histories of the terms 'Affirmative Action' and 'DEI,' and the reasons why neither was allowed to achieve their stated objectives ("affirmative action and DEI" were promoted as "instruments of racial justice when, in reality, they were mechanisms of political appeasement that benefited others far more than they did us.").
Enhancing the usefulness of the excellent content in this essay, the layout, high-lighted talking points and organization were extremely helpful; as were your references to several Global Black Strategies: Structural Power Beyond The Need for Self-Sufficiency, Reparations, Pan-Africanism, Alignment with the Global South, and Human Rights Law.
I must confess, Pamela, that I'm sometimes disturbed by otherwise effective essays, posts, and commentaries that seem to have all of the facts and details right but which somehow fail to appropriately convey just how dire are the circumstances being discussed. It's very frustrating. But the following 3 paragraphs of yours, along with much else included in this essay, give me hope and encouragement that a number of mindful and perceptive people, such as yourself, understand the rut that we find ourselves trapped in and the need for less description and more action in this global struggle for sanity.
"For decades, we have been playing defense—fighting to protect policies like affirmative action, voting rights, and DEI from being dismantled. But playing defense means we are always reacting to attacks rather than setting the agenda. As long as we remain in this defensive position, we are merely fighting to preserve policies that were never designed to bring true liberation anyway."
"At this point in the struggle, we must shift our focus toward going on the offensive. Instead of fighting for DEI, we should be demanding reparations. Instead of celebrating “first Black CEOs,” we should be creating Black-owned financial institutions. Instead of waiting for white institutions to give us a seat at the table, we should be building the tables ourselves—globally."
"The time for symbolic inclusion is over. It is time to reject the illusion of progress and demand real transformation. Tweaking at the edges will never change the system, and therefore, it will never solve this problem. A thousand points of light are no match for the sun. We could go around and around like this for another 400 years—or we can break the cycle and demand structural change."
I appreciate the details and the thought that went into your essay. I want to ask a question for clarification. Is it your position that Black people have made no progress since 1960? Or is it that what progress we have made owes nothing to DEI and affirmative action? Thank you.
Thanks, Peter! Well, there are fewer Black people living in poverty and more than 300% more college grads...but on measures of fairness such as the wealth gap and measures of security like homeownership, the reality is that we have not made economic progress. Yes, we have made cultural progress, but not economic - with the important exception of poverty levels. But that is the sad state of affairs. So, if the goals of these programs were justice, they have failed. I think that affirmative action and DEI create an illusion of progress that is not supported by the data. Further, they serve as kinds of psychological hate crimes by eroding our self-worth and allowing others to inaccurately look down on us, adding to their false feeling of superiority. In any ways that we may have gained access to education and jobs due to DEI, it has not resulted in economic justice. What are your thoughts on this? Thanks for this thought provoking question.
Well, I argue that AA/DEI were never intended to be the solution to the wealth gap. I argue they are a piece of a pantheon of solutions necessary for progress. There is no silver bullet. Turning to your alternative—-reparations and global south partnership. These are not silver bullets either. Let’s assume that we got reparations. (From Here To Equity Offers a formula I favor). Then what? How do you suggest reparations turn into equity in wealth? Does each individual get a share? I’m also not sure what a partnership with the global south looks like or how it is managed.
To reiterate, you raise valid and useful thoughts and I don’t think you intend the essay to be THE solution. I’d absolutely LOVE to have detailed and ongoing discussions about systematic solutions.
Thanks much for the discussion.
Well, the history of the impulse they came out of was to build toward equality in the case of affirmative action and equity in the case of DEI. There has been a 6% increase in Black employees - that's not nothing. But 20% for white women in the same period, so I think that's a problem. For me it's likely that that 6% gain would have happened without these policies. But you're right in pointing out that none of these "solutions" get at the big picture and end up not working due to multiple forces in our society.
In terms of reparations my feeling, and by no means am I an authority, is that how they are determined would need to be collective for there to be long term benefit. In most cases reparations are part of a process that results in them. They are part of a decision on the part of the majority in a society to rectify a past wrong that prevents moving forward cohesively into the future. So, yes I do think that reparations really must be a part of the solution, but almost never are they a full solution.
In terms of connecting with the global south I think efforts would need to be collaborative. There are organizing efforts in this direction. I think this is something that comes out of civil society and not governments and so it would be pretty flexible.
What are your thoughts on the UN?
Thanks so much for this discussion!
Thank you for another brilliant article, Ms. Brown. Don't mean to quibble, but I would like to add the effect that favoring US militarism over meaningful equality policy had in this country. There was a choice...war or morality. We chose war, like we always do.
“A door swung open in the late ’60s,” Modeste tells us. “And someone, something, sprang up and slammed it shut.”
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/riotsville-usa-movie-review-2022
So true, Paul! So true. We always choose war over humanity. But I do think with the recent awakening, the tides are changing. Thanks for your positive feedback and support!
Really good read - as usual with the Politricks Tick Box brigade, this has always been about being able to say something was being done without doing anything.
But I am going to ask a pointed question. I always find it difficult to understand how racial inequality conversations, articles etc manage to leave out and ignore the whole question of Native Americans, Latin origin people etc.
Why is that? As Fred Hampton so frequently highlighted, this struggle only gets won through solidarity…
That's a GREAT question. This is a short answer but I think it's something that needs a lot of discussion. I actually think there should be an internal discussion along the lines of a large scale meeting of some sort to see IF there could be deeper solidarity and a truly shared struggle. Frankly, I think a truth commission that is only amongst "minority" groups could be extraordinarily useful, because from a strategic perspective, I agree with you on general solidarity with the wide variety of other groups but especially Indigenous and Latinx folks.
But there's often an important gap that is perhaps experiential. In particular Indigenous and Latinx folk conditions tend to relate to settler colonialism. They have a history that predates 1492 per se. 1492 is an emerging framing that incorporates the Palestinian struggle, Indigenous and Latinx. But African Americans have no history prior to 1619. Blackness only exists in relation to whiteness and slavery. There is no American Black identity that does not begin with slavery. That is the unfortunate truth. I think it is unique. I think it is a specific crime against humanity. An injustice of this scale seems to require a specific remedy. In some sense dismantling white supremacy requires dismantling Black American identity. The only way to transform Black American identity is to remedy the crime committed. But how do you do that? It's like two puzzle pieces locked together. Perhaps, even "human nature" to keep your identity in tact.
So from movement strategy, it's difficult for Blacks to come together fully with other groups whose framing, explicit or implicit, stems from 1492. We didn't even exist then. Often in practicality this means: "hey we're all generally in the same class together and our fight is the same fight against white supremacy so let's come together along our shared interests." There's definitely truth to that. But because of an explicitly anti-Black dynamic in our society, other groups - and this is perhaps an overgeneralization - are able to distinguish themselves from Blackness and in so doing end up higher up on the racial hierarchy. Often those other groups advocate for collective remedy and not for specific remedy for Black Americans. Again this is along the lines of "we have it bad too, why don't you just forget your specific interests and unite with us so we all win."
But what do Black people win this way? We still will exist as a group only in relations to whiteness/slavery/Jim Crow/mass incarceration/redlining etc. This seems to me the critical jump that white settler colonialism took in 1619. So, the question is why those more advantaged groups and conscious whites don't unite with Blacks toward repair. Real repair for Blacks would transform Black identity and therefore white identity. But I think it may be as simple as that those groups don't see what's in it for them. So I suspect that while there's general solidarity, there are specifics that we don't come together on because of the differences in our experience and position.
Then on a practical side related to this article, I actually wanted to include the "DEI" data from all other groups. But the Trump Labor Department has apparently removed access to this data from their website subsequent to people reporting on it. At least that is what some are reporting. I think there may have been a report because the databases are complicated to understand without a lot of specifics on how the numbers are generated. I wanted to verify reporting that in every labor department measure, Blacks are at the bottom of every group included under "DEI" which has been reported but may or may not be accurate. I find it most questionable with regard to Native Americans. Presumably, they removed this report because it disproves their racist narrative that DEI brought unqualified Black people into educational and work spaces.
Another side of this is that I have not seen Indigenous or Latinx people raising their voices about this policy. The only people I have seen in an uproar are Black people. This is because we perceive this attack being directed toward us. Perhaps, because we were the group advocating for these policies coming out of the New Negro Movement into Civil Rights.
What are your thoughts? How do we fix this? What is our path forward?
Now there's a great reply. :)
Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you, but this needed a proper time slot to get into.
So, let me get to it. Yes, white supremacy exists. It is clearly visible all around the world and many of the most heinous crimes of our brief history on the planet have been committed with it as the slogan, or at least a convenient way to demonise people and therefore get buy in from the citizenry of the country perpetrating these crimes. And certainly, the further back one goes in history, the more fundamental this ideology was as a driving force. I'm pretty sure Tarquin and his ilk really did believe that Blacks, Chinese etc were brutes and inferior people when the whole kind of colonial expansion idea started to spread.
And of course, national and cultural identities exist. And should always exist in some ways.
However, as we get up to the modern day, despite lots of inhuman, short of intelligence people burping up racist, white supremacy type tropes, from the perspective of society's governing system, this is no longer a driving force. It is simply a convenient way to demonise people and obfuscate the reality of this system. There is only one value. Profit/power. Those in power, and I don't mean the admin bods in government, I mean the giant corporate entities and the legal system they have built around themselves are not sat there going "fuck these people because they are black, chinese, natives etc" - they are merely saying fuck these people because they are between us and our profit. And then the same systemic thought process finds a way to profit from fucking those people in the way of their profit.
And sure, this is easy enough for me to say. I had my ancient culture and language robbed from me by the same colonial system and indeed some of my ancestors were sold as slaves too (not as heinously, it wasn't passed from parent to offspring, as it was for people from Africa), but that was all long over really by the time I arrived. And I don't pretend to understand what black identity means for anyone, particularly in America.
But what I can see clearly happening is that all these identities are simply ways of ensuring the continued division of the peace loving, struggling populace of the world, a way to herd us into camps/groups/tribes and sow arguments which allow the societal system to continue its rape and pillage for profit in the shadow of the division and obfuscation caused by the idea of separate identities.
I'm me, you're you, they are them, we are us. And we are all now suffering (of course, there is a deeply troubling and unfair hierarchy to the suffering) under the same monolotithic systemic reality that spans the globe. The system is totally and utterly colour blind and ruthless. And until we hone in on it like a heat seeking missile with a unity of purpose, there will be no space or room for identities and cultures to thrive and express themselves - which they should. And be celebrated for, for the beauty and diversity and creative genius that abounds. That's where identity has true purpose, for me. But as a unifying force to fight the systemic hell hound, I think it is a poor strategy that leaves us unable to exploit the full force of our numbers, the only real strength we have.
Aren't meaningful conversations just bloody wonderful? :)
To answer your last question: YES! I love this kind of conversation and it's what I really love about Substack. Honestly, I think these are the conversations that are necessary if we ever want to evolve out of capitalism.
I agree with you that identity politics is a way of creating division and that the so-called capitalist class (1% or even .001%) could give two shits about race etc... and only care about money and power... The problem is that we are all attached to identity because it's what connects us to society and the smaller groups we rely on to survive. When people are only connected due to an atrocity and have no other connection, I guess I think there needs to be a clear response - I'm not sure what that would be other than forms of repair.
But also to be honest here, I fear that we are facing forces that are combining economic power and technology in ways that may naturally end all of our attachments to anything other than small groups we trust. I think we should ask and think *why* does identity seem to matter so much right now for us as humans? What are the large scale forces that are generating these forms of sociality? There are so many factors and we've simultaneously entered a new phase of technological change...perhaps an evolutionary one... Just thinking out loud...
Looking forward to continuing to think through this with you. Thanks so much for your thoughtful response.
Yeah, I agree that this is what is observable right now in society, but I think the answer lie beyond what we are currently observing and following.
Identity in very simple terms is the past. It is a collection of all the experiences, knowledge, emotional responses etc that we cling to psychologically and form what we know as our individual identity, which of course then happens with racial, national identity etc on a grander scale.
One objectively observable fact is that the universe, life etc is constant change. Our cellular structure is renewing all the time, copying and replacing etc. The Earth will never again be where/when it is now. The same with the sun, the moon and everything we observe in the heavens. No pair of inhalation/exhalations are the same.
So this whole idea of imposing an identity or fixed psychological imprint on an ever changing present, when all is said and done and all of it is stripped away to its core, seems rather crazy, right. At least, to me, it does. But then I am a little cracked.
None of which is to say that we don't have character, or personality or anything like that, but we are all so much more alike at our core than we realise. The same thought process (not the same thoughts), the same need for air, water, food, love and freedom from oppression etc - we are all so alike. And for me, that provides a unifying sense that is unbreakable. And one that has been the same since we first became humans. It transcends modern ideas of race, nations etc simply due to it being an observable reality. It feels like granite in the ground. Solid.
But, our society and all of its systems don't highlight this, instead only the individual, the different is celebrated. Which should be celebrated, but not at the expense of what fundamentally unites us. And of course, that is that way because this cherry picking of our psychological makeup serves power and status quo. Atomised groups are so much easier to keep under control than an aware collective.
I 100% agree with this. But what about the way that identity connects us to smaller groups and also cultural memory? I guess the question is also how could this form of identity be replaced with more unifying forms? Lots to unpack here...
yeah, you're correct. I don't see them as mutually exclusive things though - I think we can organise on a scale that recognises the fundamental connection between us all, and locally. But where the local thing begins to impact on the fundamentals, then I would say the fundamentals take precedence, because they are universal. Local cultural and identity things are not. And let´s not forget that the miniscule percentile have their own cultural identity and right now, that culture of theirs is like a wrecking ball to the universal.
But of course, to get to this kind of universal, well, that means we need to be prepared to let go of a lot of things, both internally and within our own groups, and not hold on to them because of some nostalgic idea of that is our culture. And that requires a lot of internal reflection - otherwise we'll just end up vomiting the systems norms back out again - the value of individual above all else.
So, yeah, it's extremely idealistic of me, because the system has been refining the people factory for a long time now, churning out humans that have accepted so many of the inhuman parts of our society as normal. Thus we have collectively brought society to the horrific position we now find it in. But there's a reality in that - this means we can also collectively change it, anytime we choose to. But we're so full of systemic indoctrination, that simple reality is lost in the noise of the system's insanity rolling around in our head.
Yeah, that is often true and how it has played out - but that’s only when it’s argued from a perspective contained within that societal norm set. In other words, dictated by the controller class, which is certainly mega white and the most resistant to any change - naturally, they have it fat!
I’d also say that implicit in what i’m saying is that this privileged set will have to give up the most. It is their identity that is the closest to the norms of the system, hence their position. And they most certainly need to put that identity aside for there to be any progress. Or we put it aside for them ( the more likely) - again, this has not been observable, nor even really floated as a possible in general mainstream discourse, as you rightly point out.
It’s also not to argue against things such as reparations. That’s certainly not what i’m advocating. Redistribution of wealth, resource etc would have to be part of any solution going forward. Alongside acknowledgement of many heinous crimes against humanity.
However, white identity is not universal. That is a particularly north american viewpoint that isn’t born out around the world. That’s not to say that i’ve not had privilege simply because of my colour, but it would less than many americans would suspect. Roll the clock back to london as recently as the 60s and early 70s, and on job advertisements it was common to see no blacks, no irish. Or on rental ads for flats, no blacks, no irish, no dogs.
Roll the clock back 250 years ago and the british watched 4 famines rip through the country in the space of decades, and still kept shipping food to the mainland. A language and culture brutally stamped out and several hundred thousand dead or fleeing to foreign lands.
In my own experience, i regularly got stopped going into london because of my surname and accent. Or got harassed in certain bars the moment i opened my mouth to speak. None of which is to claim equivalence with anyone or any identity’s experience.
And certainly european jews can lay a serious claim to having a fairly different white identity. And resultant unimaginable persecution and brutalisation in the not too distant past, right? Some of whom then fled to be the very thing they ran from, but that’s another conversation all together. And it doesn’t represent the entire Jewish identity, at all.
And the Russians. As white as white can be, but cripes have they been demonised and brutalised. Some other white folk having a national melt down went on the rampage and caused the death of 25 million Russians. Not to mention some other white folks who claimed to be their allies then promptly invaded them and then spent the next 70years blaming them for everything, basically.
The system uses identity and exploits it for its own end. An interesting example of this is how the british used a loose but not very separated caste system in india to create divisions where there weren’t really, in order to help them conquer and control. They awarded the top, loyal lackies, flooded the system with material about how the lackies were so much better etc etc.
We need to appreciate, celebrate and love identity as something beautiful to be shared with each other, and revelled in for the creative output and expressions of humanity that cultural identity produces. But in the fight against an inhumane system, identity groups as an organising principle will only cede power to the existing status quo, which ultimately will serve to continue the hierarchical system that sees certain identities and people trodden on more than others.
But hey, i could also be full of shit.
An interesting philosopher to read on the internal workings of culture, identity etc on the mind and its thought processes is Jiddhu Krishnamurti. Lots of his talks have been collected in books. To Be Human is my favourite.
I appreciate all of your points. I'm familiar with Krishnamurti and read that years ago, but it's surely worthy of reading again. I also am familiar with Buddhist perspectives that rightfully view the forms of identity we're discussing as transient and not true per se. And from a philosophical POV I very much agree. I think we get lost in the practical, however. Part is the history: all we have had so far is organizing based on identity groups: be it "civil rights" or "land back" or "women's rights" or even "class"... This is why I think it could be that to solve for this new forms of solidarity would need to emerge. Honestly, I think the downward pressure of global technological authoritarianism we have coming may resolve this for us. And I'm not sure this is a pessimistic thought.
Yeah, I have long had the feeling that we'll have to hit the proverbial iceberg first before anything really meaningful can happen. And that's both terrifyingly pessimistic but somehow optimistic too. I guess we might find out. Let's see how my years hold out..... and yeah, I think what it looks like is something quite difficult to conceive from being in the middle of where society is at as the moment. I think about it often in the hope that I have an aha moment, but as of yet..... blank!!
It's been a pleasure :)
The demise of DEI hurts white women the most, ironically, followed by rich fat-cat white men who are CEOs.
Trump scapegoating it aside because red meat for the fascist base and resentment among white men alive/well in the broligarchy, it in words may have been well intended to lift up others but in actions it proved to be yet another example of corporate America’s performative wokeness with no concrete benefits given to two of the most marginalized groups of them all in Black men + Black women, and all LBGTQ+ Americans.
Count it down, Trump’s second term is going to give pain to heterosexual white women nationwide that all actual marginalized groups and minorities have known for several decades to even a century or two beforehand as well as white women in all Red states have experienced since 2021— and most voted for it just to spite every group but white men overall as they view themselves as better than the rest/superior yet that’s not how most white men see it period, 100%.
It's also possible that the structural gains that white women have made through DEI are here to stay and any losses they would make up by being married to white men who will be the only winners more than likely. How do you think the CEOs are going to factor in? Their obscene pay has become completely normalized. Also LGBQT+ Americans are mostly white and are not economically marginalized, even though they are socially.
All true, no disagreement here.
Worth the long read, thanks and the question, Where are the benefits? Reminds me of Keep Your Eyes On The Prize, reparations. DEI etc. are roadblocks to progress meant to be temporary political footballs. International solidarity means the UN plus ICJ need to be bolstered especially as Nandeli Pandor says with a revived anti-apartheid commission and rapporteur. The struggle lives on for a new politics which rejects imposed solutions by the skewed nepopolitics of white inherited wealth to maintain structural inequities. The discussion of labor was informative.
Thanks! And yes, international solidarity seems like the best path forward. Of course the US ignores the UN but I think a movement asking for help from the UN bodies is especially needed now.
I agree, as Jen so eloquently stated, that your framing of this issue as global is groundbreaking. A movement away from integration and towards establishing strong powerful institutions is crucial. “If we choose transformation over illusion, maybe we can finally be free.” Well said Pamela!
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Christopher! :)