THE EMOTIONAL POLITICS OF RACISM Stanford Studies in COMPARATIVE RACE AND ETHNICITY THE EMOTIONAL POLITICS OF RACISM How Feelings Trump Facts in an Era of Color Blindness Paula Ioanide Stanford University Press Stanford, California Stanford University Press Stanford, California ©2015 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. All rights reserved. “We Made It” © 2007 by Sunni Patterson, New Orleans, LA. “You know her” by Sophia E. Terazawa. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Stanford University Press. Printed in the United States of America on acid-free, archival-quality paper Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Ioanide, Paula, author. The emotional politics of racism: how feelings trump facts in an era of colorblindness / Paula Ioanide. pages cm—(Stanford studies in comparative race and ethnicity) Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8047-9359-9 (cloth : alk. paper)— isbn 978-0-8047-9547-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Racism—United States—Psychological aspects. 2. Social psychology—United States. 3. United States—Social policy. 4. United States—Social conditions—1980- I. Title. II. Series: Stanford studies in comparative race and ethnicity. e184.a1l623 2015 305.800973—dc23 2014041547 isbn 978-08047-9548-7 (electronic) Typeset by Bruce Lundquist in 10.5/15 Adobe Garamond To my father, Cristian Ioanide, who endowed me with the responsibility to continue the spiritual legacy CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Facts and Evidence Don’t Work Here 1 part i criminals and terrorists: the emotional economies of military-carceral expansion 27 1. New York, New York: The Raging Emotions of White Police Brutality 55 2. Abu Ghraib, Iraq: The Evasive Emotions of U.S. Exceptionalism 81 part ii welfare dependents and illegal aliens: the emotional economies of social wage retrenchment 113 3. New Orleans, Louisiana: The Demolishing Emotions of Neoliberal Removal 139 4. Escondido, California: The Exclusionary Emotions of Nativist Movements 175 Epilogue: The Other Side of Social Death 207 viii contents Notes 223 Index 263 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Looking back to the time when this book was in its germination phase, I find it inconceivable that the constellation of people who irrevocably transformed my understanding of the world should all be present in the same geography. The only thing that might account for this is an unwavering and unprovable belief that the universe sends wise guides to those who are desperately seeking answers and purpose. I am forever indebted to the remarkable guidance I received in the History of Consciousness program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and as a feminist studies fellow at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Tricia Rose, Neferti Tadiar, Angela Y. Davis, Herman Gray, Rosa Linda Fregoso, Jonathan Beller, Saidiya Hartman, Clyde Woods, Cedric Robinson—please al- ways know that your knowledge ignites unlimited desires for growth and justice and transfigures others to bend toward the arc of love, growth, and the beloved community. I am also thankful for beautiful memories of shared struggle, sur- vival, and laughter with Roya Rastegar, Kalindi Vora, Rashad Shabazz, and Tim Koths, who have offered sustaining friendships. The unwavering support I have received from George Lipsitz over the years is something that can hardly be represented through language. A galaxy of new constellations in the sky, a new genre of music, or a series of collective spoken poetry performances would probably offer more effective modes of symbolizing the gratitude I feel for his guidance, scholarship, ethics, peda- gogy, and commitment to do what is right. As you always say, George, we are looking for people who are looking for us, and I feel infinitely blessed that I found you. Your constant willingness to help me and countless other students, activists, and organizers across the world has surely come at a huge x acknowledgments cost to you. But please know that your mentorship will continue to produce immeasurable reverberations toward making justice irresistible and white su- premacy intolerable. Ruth Wilson Gilmore and Craig Gilmore, you taught me that it is possible to remain committed to my political principles, to live my ethics through rela- tionships and radical community organizing, and to continue being a scholar. You seamlessly modeled the connectivity between these worlds in your own lives and created invaluable sites of pedagogy and praxis as a result! I thank you for embodying the beautiful struggle and inspiring so many to continue aspiring. There were many times in the past ten years when I looked around and wondered how it was possible that I was sitting with the very scholars whose work had been formative in shaping my understanding of institutional gen- dered racism, nativism, and imperialism. They were generous, rigorous, and engaging in ways that combusted old neural tracks of thinking and expanded my brain. Most important, they used their work and institutional power to further antiracist feminist political projects. My core ideas on the emotional dimensions of color-blind gendered racism were first presented to scholars who participated in the Colorblindness Seminar at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Science. So much grew out of that superfun and rigorous week! Kimberlé Crenshaw, Luke Harris, George Lipsitz, Felice Blake, Charles W. Mills, Glenn Adams, Devon Carbado, Cheryl Harris, Claire Jean Kim, Daniel HoSang, and Barbara Tomlinson generously engaged early ver- sions of this book’s arguments and continued to help me clarify them through subsequent encounters. Research grants awarded by the American Association of University Women (2010–2011) and Ithaca College gave me crucial financial support toward finalizing the book. Paula Moya, Hazel Markus, and my editor at Stanford, Kate Wahl, offered critical insights that greatly improved the book and facilitated a smooth process toward publication. The seeds that were planted at the Colorblindness Seminar grew into the amazing Antiracism Inc. collective, organized by Dr. Felice Blake through the American Cultures and Global Contexts Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. We managed to create the alternative university time and again as we thought through some of the most pressing political issues of our time. Thank you to Nick Mitchell, Chandan Reddy, Swati Rana, Barbara Tomlinson, Glenn Adams, Shana Redmond, Sarah Haley, George Lipsitz, Aisha Finch, acknowledgments xi Sunaina Maira, Kevin Fellezs, and Alison Reed for some of the most stimulat- ing, funny, and captivating conversations the world has witnessed! Throughout the long journey of writing this book, I received incredible les- sons, joy, and inspiration from a remarkable group of co-conspirators, artists, and activists who never seem to grow tired of struggling to transform the ills of this world. Their music, art, poetry, organizing, courage, and commitment made me feel like I had finally found a place to belong in this world after an exhausting journey; they always renew my purpose and commitment to dignity during difficult and discouraging times. I felt secure in the fact that we always had each other’s back—an incredible thing to achieve in a world plagued by social alienation. Gregory Mitchell, Daniel Silber-Baker, Chris Wilson, David Scott, Edward McWilliams, Eda Levenson, Matt Jones, Chelsea Johnson-Long, Eden Connelly, Colin Ehara, Ebony Donnley, Noelle de la Paz, Josh Fisher, Jeremy Karafin, Pamela Chavez, Dahlak Brathwaite, Dubian Ade, Sophia Terazawa, and Sunni Patterson—please keep creating and building freedom dreams! A new place of belonging through creativity, activism, writing, and teaching was co-created in Ithaca, New York. The formation of the Shawn Greenwood Working Group (SGWG) gave me a place to live my politics locally. I am so proud of the work we accomplished in the community and on ourselves. I am forever thankful for my relationships with SGWG members Nydia Williams, Phillip Price, James Ricks, Clare Grady, Gino Bush, Aislyn Colgan, Mario Martone, Shawnae Milton, Kayla Young, and baby E. J. Colgan. You offered me a family and a deep sense of interpersonal love and meaning. Ithaca is a crossroads for an incredible array of community folks who pushed me to grow in unexpected ways, including Dr. James Turner, Alan Gomez, Omar Figueredo, Nancy Morales, Linda Robi Majani, Jen Majka, Mary Anne Grady Flores, Candace Katungi, Jen Chicon, Andrea Levine, and Daniel Carrion. My beautiful friendships with Joanne Oport, Krissy Samms, and Shyama Kuver sustained me spiritually, mentally, and intellectually. It is no small feat to find an academic department that allows you to be your crazy self, encourages politicized interdisciplinary classes, and offers steadfast support for community activism and creative endeavors. My colleagues Sean Eversley Bradwell, Gustavo Licòn, Phuong Nguyen, and our fearless director, Asma Barlas, made my transition to the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity (CSCRE) seamless. Together, we foregrounded a shared political xii acknowledgments vision and always kept it real. I am incredibly proud of the ethnic studies program we built and the impact our center has had on students’ lives. Naeem Inayatul- lah, Belisa Gonzalez, Chris House, Peyi Soyinka-Airewele, Beth Harris, and the staff and students of the Martin Luther King Jr. Scholars Program continue to foster a pedagogical and intellectual community at Ithaca College that produces growth and transformation. My CSCRE students—you all know who you are!—offered me the most incredible life lessons. You have made my life and my work meaningful, beau- tifully growth producing, and renewing. You challenged me emotionally and intellectually and at the same time offered me unwavering sustenance and love. This book would not be possible without the things you taught me—you are the audience I always imagine when I write.