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Racial Reparations against White Protectionism: America's New Racial Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2021

Rogers M. Smith Open the ORCID record for Rogers M. Smith [Opens in a new window]  and
Desmond King
Rogers M. Smith*
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Desmond King
Affiliation:
Nuffield College, Oxford University
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Rogers M. Smith, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

After more than half a century in which American racial politics has been structured primarily as a clash between two rival “racial orders” or “policy alliances,” the longstanding coalitions are transforming into ones centered on significantly new themes. The racially conservative “color-blind” policy alliance is, under the leadership of President Donald Trump, becoming an alliance promising “white protectionism.” The “race-conscious” policy alliance is, with the mobilizations around the slogan of Black Lives Matter, becoming an alliance focused on “racial reparations” to end “systemic racism.” These new, even more, polarized racial policy alliances have counterparts across the globe, and they are likely to shape political life for many years to come.

Keywords

racial orderscolor-blindnessrace consciousracial reparationswhite protectionism
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 82 - 96
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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