I am fortunate to live in a Golden Age of scholarship about race in the US. Some scholars who have made this age golden (in no order):

@sociologistray
@SandyDarity
@tressiemcphd
@DrIbram
@ruha9
@JoeFeagin
@nhannahjones
@safiyanoble
@JessieNYC

And many more. I lived...(1/6)

...through a positive shift in public discourse about racial inequality between 2000 and 2020. Now, instead of seeing black people and black culture as "deficient", we understand racial inequality correctly as a self-perpetuating, group-based phenomenon. But... (2/6)

...there are still some propagandists and racists who try and delegitimate this shift by arguing:

(1) the ideas are not scholarly or "scientific" (often coming from non-academics)

or

(2) the scholars are ideological (often coming from conservatives)

However...(3/6)

...the rejection of these ideas are "really" about two things:

(1) plain old racism - a belief that racial inequality is produced through black deficiences

(2) anti-blackness - negative feelings toward black folk, leading to lack of empathy

And finally... (4/6)

...(3) self-interest - a recognition that acknowledging the validity of these scholar's arguments will lead to social and political changes that do not benefit them ideologically or materially.

I support these scholars and others like them because...

(5/6)

...by exploring the experiences of racial groups, religious minorities, the differentially abled, queer folk, people in poverty, and women - we move closer to fulfilling our nation's promise of being of the people, by the people, and for the people. (END)