What is the role of society and government on racism?
Answers
Answer:
Freedom, liberty, equality and democracy have ever-changing and contested meanings in America. For
people of color, much of daily life experience suggests that ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ are linked to hollow
promises. Social movements based on the advancement of people of color have challenged America to
embrace a ‘wider vision of freedom’ and an expansive understanding of democracy. At the heart of these
struggles is the need to build progressive power. As the following overview of historic debates about race
and the role of government suggests, advancing progressive agendas that challenge the injustices in our
society requires building and sustaining broad-based, multi-racial coalitions united around both racial and
economic justice demands.
Economic populism that does not embrace racial justice falls short of the mark, in terms of building
power, in part because our opponents use race so effectively to undermine progressive agendas. Likewise,
race-based politics that does not include economic justice falls short in terms of building sufficient power
to challenge the forms of economic inequality that hold back the promise of civil rights. At the heart of
both economic and racial justice struggles is a contest over the role of government in a democratic
society. Should government actively promote economic and social equality, through anti-poverty
programs, public investments, civil rights and labor laws and regulatory frameworks that protect peoples’
health, safety and economic wellbeing? Or should government provide minimal legal protections while
leaving it up to communities to raise themselves up through self-help initiatives? How does a democratic
government protect minority rights and interests in the face of the ‘tyranny of the majority’?
The African American experience is imprinted on the wide spectrum of debates about the role of
government. It is through African American struggles––from Abolition through Civil Rights to Black
Power, from the Rainbow Coalition and current forms of black activism––that we can see the contours of
the debate about race and government most clearly. For immigrants of color, the relationship to
government is complicated by the role that government institutions play in enforcing immigration and
citizenship laws. The implications for democratic governance are important to consider, as anti-immigrant
sentiment and policy are effective ways to divide constituencies against one anther. The negative
experience with ‘government as we know it,’ discourages political participation among recent
immigrants. The Native American experience with government is even more complicated. Native
Nations’ relationships with the U.S. Government have ranged from attempts to obtain tribal neutrality
during the Revolutionary War, through assimilation policies of the late 1800's to the current emphasis on
self-determination. This particular strand of history deserves its own careful examination.1
Workers of all
races and ethnicities also have a mixed relationship with government, at times struggling within a legal
structure that favors private property, and at times advocating militant resistance against ‘wage slavery,’
corporate domination of political parties and capitalism itself. For workers of color, class oppression and
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