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Abstract

The cause of racial justice or "anti racism" seems to pervade American society.  To some, this is evidence of considerable progress toward the creation of a more just, egalitarian, or even utopian society.  To others, the cause of racial justice has been perverted into a form of proto authoritarianism or policing and thus represents a social crisis.  Who is correct? In this talk, I will argue that considerable confusion arises between the two camps because there is a lack of consensus concerning what the object of racial justice ought to be.  Much discourse of racial justice has been captured by the idea that justice refers primarily to social norms and ideas rather than instituted patterns of violence and precarity.  I contend that much of the disagreement is due to conflicting viewpoints on how much control we ought to have over social norms.  A more productive conversation would orient racial justice around questions of social arrangements and economic institutions.  Nevertheless, we ought to understand why racial justice will present as both a crisis and a chance for utopia.