Anti-Racism Inc.: Why the Way We Talk About Racial Justice Matters
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antiracism inc. Before you start to read this book, take this moment to think about making a donation to punctum books, an independent non-profit press, @ https://punctumbooks.com/support/ If you’re reading the e-book, you can click on the image below to go directly to our donations site. Any amount, no matter the size, is appreciated and will help us to keep our ship of fools afloat. Contri- butions from dedicated readers will also help us to keep our commons open and to cultivate new work that can’t find a welcoming port elsewhere. Our ad- venture is not possible without your support. Vive la Open Access. Fig. 1. Hieronymus Bosch, Ship of Fools (1490–1500) Antiracism Inc.: Why the Way We Talk About Racial Justice Matters. Copyright © 2019 by the editors and authors. This work carries a Creative Com- mons BY-NC-SA 4.0 International license, which means that you are free to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and you may also remix, transform and build upon the material, as long as you clearly attribute the work to the authors (but not in a way that suggests the authors or punctum books en- dorses you and your work), you do not use this work for commercial gain in any form whatsoever, and that for any remixing and transformation, you distribute your rebuild under the same license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-sa/4.0/ First published in 2019 by punctum books, Earth, Milky Way. https://punctumbooks.com ISBN-13: 978-1-950192-23-6 (print) ISBN-13: 978-1-950192-24-3 (ePDF) doi: 10.21983/P3.0250.1.00 lccn: 2019937769 Library of Congress Cataloging Data is available from the Library of Congress Editorial Team: Chip Badley, Lexxus Edison Coffey, Molly Guillermo, Carmen Guzman, and Jessica Reincke Cover Design: Carmen Guzman and Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei Book Design: Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei Cover Image: Detail from Manuel Arenas, “Artificial Breathing” (2010 installation). Courtesy of the Mattress Factory. Index: Sherri Barnes Racism Anti Inc. Why the Way We Talk about Racial Justice Matters Edited by Felice Blake, Paula Ioanide, and Alison Reed Contents Antiracism Incorporated 17 Felice Blake and Paula Ioanide Poetic Knowledge: On Why Art Matters to Antiracism Inc. 41 Alison Reed Part I — Working Politics graffiti hanging gently in an art museum 55 Daniel Hershel Silber-Baker A Wider Type of Freedom 57 Daniel Martinez HoSang Trump 2016 81 Jari Bradley Defensive Appropriations 83 Paula Ioanide the white supremacy waiting game 109 Daniel Hershel Silber-Baker Antiracism Works: Interview with Diana Zuñiga 111 Felice Blake ix Part II — Educational Strategies The Good One 125 Dahlak Brathwaite Gentrifying Disciplines: The Institutional Management of Trauma and Creative Dissent 129 Alison Reed After My Uncle Elbowed a Soldier in the Face on the Beach of Pulau Bidong 159 Sophia Terazawa Wicked Problems and Intersectionality Telephone 161 Barbara Tomlinson Part III — Cultural Productions Pleasure as an Imperative (for Black Femmes) in 5 Acts 191 Ebony P. Donnley How Does Cultural Criticism “Work” in the Age of Antiracist Incorporation? 199 Felice Blake If a tree falls in the forest… 229 Daniel Hershel Silber-Baker Nahenahe: The Sound of Kanaka Maoli Refusal 231 Kevin Fellezs Gangland Wonderama 255 YDS x Part IV — Racial Justice Praxis This sI Just to Say 265 Dubian Ade The Logic of “Illogical” Opposition: Tools and Tactics for Tough Times 273 George Lipsitz Akira 295 Colin Masashi Ehara Provisional Strategies for Decolonizing Consciousness 299 Phia S. Salter and Glenn Adams November 5, 2016 325 Corinne Contreras Our City, Our Solutions: Interview with Gaby Hernandez and Marissa Garcia of PODER 327 Alison Reed Contested Language of Freedom 347 Daniel Hershel Silber-Baker Selective Bibliography 349 Index 369 xi Acknowledgments The Antiracism Inc. program, sponsored by the UCSB English Department’s American Cultures & Global Contexts Center and the UC Humanities Research Institute, sought to transform how we do the work we do. One of the most delightful aspects of such a foundation is that we had the incredible opportunity to spend time learning together with a wonderful group of gener- ous and committed people. We are grateful for the fellowship of the Antiracism Inc. working group and radical poets/pedagogues: George Lipsitz, Paula Ioanide, Nick Mitchell, Chandan Reddy, Daniel Ho- Sang, Swati Rana, Aisha Finch, Barbara Tomlinson, Sarah Ha- ley, Sunaina Maira, Shana L. Redmond, Kevin Fellezs, Glenn Adams, Lalaie Ameeriar, Daniel “Fritz” Silber-Baker, Gregory Mitchell, Colin Ehara, Ebony P. Donnley, Dubian Ade, Dahlak Brathwaite, David Scott, former Director Felice Blake, and then graduate fellows Alison Reed and Roberta Wolfson. In our col- lective project, we have witnessed transformations both subtle and startlingly beautiful, reinvigorating our belief that the on- going work of building alternative worlds goes at the speed of relationships. Members of the SB Coalition for Justice, particularly Sunny Lim, Sonya Baker, Danielle Stevens, Michelle Mercer, and Katie Maynard shared valuable organizing lessons. Thank you to the Shawn Greenwood Working Group members of Ithaca, New York—James Ricks, Gino Bush (1942–2018), Shawnae Milton, xiii Kayla Young, Clare Grady, Aislyn Colgan, Mario Martone, and Paula Ioanide—for sharing vital lessons learned through local- ized struggles against racist policing. To Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), particularly Diana Zuñiga, thank you for instigating and inspiring new coalitions against prison expansion. Members of the Coalition for Sustainable Com- munities—particularly Ashley Kiria Baker and Corinne Ban- croft—we are grateful for the opportunity to bring our work to Santa Barbara’s Earth Day: jails are toxic! We learned so much from People Organizing for the Defense and Equal Rights of SB Youth (PODER), with deepest appreciation to Gaby Hernandez, Marissa Garcia, Savanah Maya, and Kathy Swift for sharing your wisdom and light with us. The Antiracism Inc./Works program series held many events over the course of three years. We would also like to thank the students of Black Sexual Politics 2013, Antiracism and the Prob- lem of Colorblindness 2014, and Antiracism Inc.: Intersections 2014 for their participation in the syllabi emerging from the program series and to the graduate fellows, Drs. Alison Reed and Roberta Wolfson, for co-teaching these courses. The course “The Poetics of Struggle” during Spring and Fall 2014 provided students and campus community members the opportunity to work with brilliant artist-in-residence Daniel Silber-Baker. We are grateful to the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, UCSB’s English Department, and the UC Institute for Research in the Arts for supporting this course. TheAntiracism Inc./Works program held a reading series for which we are grateful for the generosity of time and engagement from Drs. George Lipsitz, Paula Ioanide, Alison Reed, Amanda Phillips, and Nick Mitchell. We also express our gratitude for contributors to our film series, including Drs. George Levi-Gayle, Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Leah Fry, and Xavier Livermon. Thank you to the Letters and Science Council of Deans for funding for the Antiracism Inc.: Intersections Conference, and to our presenters Drs. Marlon Bailey, Sarah Haley, C. Riley Snor- ton, and Ashon Crawley for adding critical insights to an evolv- ing conversation. xiv All of our public gatherings were filmed by Emanuel Garcia. Excerpts can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAEruQ_eT3U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lf9H4t6beN8 Thank you also to Tiye Baldwin who designed the Antira- cism Inc. and Antiracism Inc./Works logos. It was a pleasure to work with you and we are truly thankful for your enthusiasm and creativity. We would also like to thank Alison Reed’s Graduate Research Assistant at Old Dominion University, Meghan Morris, for her careful editorial assistance as the work neared completion. Thank you to everyone who participated in the Antiracism Writes program, especially Ismael Huerta and the students of Dos Pueblos High School, San Marcos High School, and La Cumbre Junior High School. We are so grateful for their hospi- tality and collaboration. Finally, we are immensely grateful for all the love and labor put into this project by punctum books co-director Eileen Joy. She saw the significance of this project early on, and carried it all the way to the finish line. Thank you to punctum’s co-director Vincent W.J. van Gerven Oei for his infinite patience through many drafts and changes as well as the book’s design! The col- laborative spirit of this project was continued in the production phase through the remarkable editing, design and layout work of UCSB students Molly Guillermo, Lexxus Edison Coffey, Jes- sica Reincke, and Carmen Guzman (who designed our beautiful cover). We thank Sherri Barnes for completing the index and Chip Badley for copy-editing support. This project is dedicated to all visionary workers. xv Introduction, part i Antiracism Incorporated Felice Blake and Paula Ioanide This collection traces the complex ways people along the politi- cal spectrum appropriate, incorporate, misuse, and neutralize antiracist discourses to perpetuate injustice. It also examines the ways that people committed to the struggle for racial jus- tice continue to organize in the context of such appropriations. Antiracism Inc.: Why the Way We Talk about Racial Justice Mat- ters reveals how antiracist claims can be used to propagate racial injustices, and what we can do about it. Current rhetoric on race claims to embrace principles of ra- cial equality, anti-discrimination and diversity; yet old and new forms of racial violence, exploitation and discrimination persist. Although racial justice and decolonization movements devel- oped critical language about the relationship between race and power, social actors across the political spectrum weaponize such rhetoric as a counterrevolutionary maneuver against ongo- ing liberation struggles.