Why Liberals Separate Race from Class

[Catherina]

38. Class and race operate both separately and together to impoverish people.

Class and race operate both separately and together to impoverish people. Racism does not explain everything. The greatest leaders of the civil rights movement understood that. Martin Luther King Jr understood it which is why he was focusing on economic issues and anti-capitalism before he was assassinated.



It is impossible to work for economic justice without combating racism but it is entirely possible to focus on racism and ignore economic justice. That's very convenient for maintaining the status quo of economic injustice - blame it on an "attitude". That's why the whitewashed version of civil rights taught in schools totally leaves out, or barely mentions, how civil rights leaders tied economic issues to the struggle.

I think the problem is that many people in America think that racism is an attitude. And this is encouraged by the capitalist system. So they think that what people think is what makes them a racist. Racism is not an attitude.

If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.

Racism gets its power from capitalism. Thus, if you’re anti-racist, whether you know it or not, you must be anti-capitalist. The power for racism, the power for sexism, comes from capitalism, not an attitude.

You cannot be a racist without power. You cannot be a sexist without power. Even men who beat their wives get this power from the society which allows it, condones it, encourages it. One cannot be against racism, one cannot be against sexism, unless one is against capitalism.

— Stokely Carmichael, in answer to a question about racism and sexism

Brother Malcolm put it more succinctly

"You can't have racism without capitalism. If you find antiracists, usually they're socialists or their political philosophy is that of socialism."

— Malcolm X