Toward Freedom
The Jacobin series features short interrogations of politics, economics, and culture from a socialist perspective, as an avenue to radical political practice. The books offer critical analysis and engagement with the history and ideas of the Left in an accessible format.
The series is a collaboration between Verso Books and Jacobin magazine, which is published quarterly in print and online at jacobinmag.com.
Other titles in this series from Verso Books include:
The New Prophets of Capital by Nicole Aschoff Four Futures by Peter Frase Class War by Megan Erickson Building the Commune by George Ciccariello-Maher People’s Republic of Walmart by Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski Red State Revolt by Eric Blanc Capital City by Samuel Stein Without Apology by Jenny Brown All-American Nativism by Daniel Denvir A Planet to Win by Kate Aronoff, Alyssa Battistoni, Daniel Aldana Cohen, and Thea Riofrancos
Toward Freedom
The Case against Race Reductionism
TOURÉ F. REED
First published by Verso 2020
Touré F. Reed © Verso 2020
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
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Verso UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201 versobooks.com
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-438-2
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-440-5 (US EBK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-439-9 (UK EBK)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Typeset in Fournier MT by Hewer Text UK Ltd, Edinburgh
Printed in the UK by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
To my grandparents, Clarita M. Reed and
Adolph L. Reed Sr., and my father, Adolph L. Reed Jr.
CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: The Era of Race Reductionism
1. When Black Progressives Didn’t Separate Race from Class
NEW DEAL INDUSTRIAL DEMOCRACY AND BLACK CIVIL RIGHTS
NEW DEAL CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVISM WAS WORKING CLASS
BLACK LABOR ACTIVISM AND ANTIDISCRIMINATION POLICY
2. Oscar Handlin and the Conservative Implications of Postwar Ethnic Identitarianism
ETHNIC PLURALISM AND POSTWAR LIBERALISM
HANDLIN’S RACE REDUCTIONIST VIEWS ON INEQUALITY AND CIVIL RIGHTS
ETHNIC PLURALISM’S CONSERVATIVE IMPLICATIONS
THE PROBLEM WITH ETHNIC PLURALISM FOR BLACK POLITICS
3. The Tragedy of the Moynihan Report
THE MOYNIHAN REPORT
THE INADEQUACIES OF THE WAR ON POVERTY
WHAT A REAL WAR ON POVERTY WOULD’VE LOOKED LIKE
4. Obama and Coates: Postracialism’s and Post-postracialism’s Yin-Yang Twins of Neoliberal Benign Neglect
RACE AND MODERN LIBERALISM
OBAMA’S METAPHYSICAL BLACKNESS AND MYTHOLOGICAL PROGRESSIVE-UNIVERSALISM
THE UNDERCLASS, POSTRACIALISM AND NEOLIBERALISM
REPARATIONS, RACIAL ONTOLOGY AND NEOLIBERAL BENIGN NEGLECT
Conclusion: Race Reductionism and the Path to Precarity for All but a Diverse Few
Acknowledgments
Notes
| ACA | Affordable Care Act |
| AFB | American Farm Bureau |
| AFDC | Aid to Families with Dependent Children |
| AFL | American Federation of Labor |
| ARA | Area Redevelopment Act |
| ARRA | American Recovery and Reinvestment Act |
| BLM | Black Lives Matter |
| BPP | Black Panther Party |
| BSCP | Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters |
| CAP | Community Action Program |
| CCC | Civilian Conservation Corps |
| CEA | Council of Economic Advisers |
| CETA | Comprehensive Employment and Training Act |
| CIO | Congress of Industrial Organizations |
| CORE | Congress of Racial Equality |
| CP | Communist Party |
| ED | Department of Education |
| DOL | Department of Labor |
| EAC | Emergency Advisory Councils |
| EEOC | Equal Employment Opportunity Commission |
| EFCA | Employee Free Choice Act |
| EITC | Earned Income Tax Credit |
| EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
| FEPC | Fair Employment Practices Committee |
| FHA | Federal Housing Administration |
| FLSA | Fair Labor Standards Act |
| FRG | Federal Republic of Germany |
| HUAC | House Un-American Activities Committee |
| HUD | Housing and Urban Development (Department) |
| JCNR | Joint Committee on National Recovery |
| LDF | Legal Defense Fund of the NAACP |
| MDTA | Manpower and Development Training Act |
| MOWM | March on Washington Movement |
| NAACP | National Association for the Advancement of Colored People |
| NAFTA | North American Free Trade Agreement |
| NALC | Negro American Labor Council |
| NIRA | National Industrial Recovery Act |
| NLRA | National Labor Relations Act |
| NLRB | National Labor Relations Board |
| NNA | New Negro Alliance |
| NNC | National Negro Congress |
| NRA | National Recovery Administration |
| NUL | National Urban League |
| PWA | Public Works Administration |
| PWOC | Packinghouse Workers’ Organizing Committee |
| SCAD | State Commission Against Discrimination (New York) |
| SCLC | Southern Christian Leadership Conference |
| SNCC | Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee |
| SSA | Social Security Act |
| SWOC | Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee |
| TARP | Troubled Asset Relief Program |
| TPP | Trans-Pacific Partnership |
| TSLU | Tobacco Stemmers and Laborers’ Union |
| UAW | United Auto Workers |
| VA | Veterans Administration |
| VISTA | Volunteers in Service to America |
| WB | Workers’
|