Opposing Racism Is Good. Justifying Race-Neutral Policies in Racial Terms Is Bad.

This is not complicated. Matt Yglesias usefully sums up the situation in a recent post on his substack:

"1. Framing race-neutral issues as racial ones is not the same thing as tackling racial issues head-on.

2. Framing race-neutral issues as racial ones is not politically effective, as racial justice advocates have traditionally understood the risks of white racial backlash are high.

3. Framing race-neutral issues as racial ones is not something non-white voters are demanding; Black and Latino people have economic interests and in the aggregate prefer seeing them discussed in economic terms.

4. Democratic Party politicians really do this a lot even though voters don’t like it, and broadly aligned groups in the nonprofit and media worlds do it even more.

I would like to see politicians simply stop doing it. But I also think that people whose job is not strictly electioneering need to take a deep breath and think about what it is they are trying to accomplish. The intention, I think, is on some level to help people. And the news that the currently fashionable tactics are ineffective is discomforting. But it’s much more important to actually help people than to avoid discomfort."

So....do you want to help people or do you want to bear moral witness. That's the question.

https://www.slowboring.com/p/english-kalla