Stamped From the Beginning, NIMBYs & Blockbusting

NinaIllingworth May 8, 2019November 5, 2022 2020 Election, America is still segregated, American history, anti-racism, blockbusting, book review, Books, Can't You Read, capitalism, colonialism, colorblind racism, covert white supremacy, Donald Trump, Economics, exploitation, FA1, fascism, History, history of racist ideas, Ibram X Kendi, JA5, Joe Biden, neocolonialism, neofeudalism, neoliberalism, NIMBYism, Nina Illingworth, Not In My Back Yard, Offsite Writing, Politics, Racism, racism is profitable for some, racist ideas, Reviews, segregation, Social Justice, ST2, Stamped From the Beginning, the economics of racism, white supremacy

Editor’s note: as part of a project to turn ninaillingworth.com into a central hub for all of my writing (in response to ongoing censorship of my work by tech companies) I’m spending parts of this month cross-posting older material from other platforms. My apologies if this produces an unwanted notification in your inbox; there’s apparently no way to turn it off.

Kendi’s “Stamped From the Beginning” & Racialized Reactionary Politics

It sure is funny how a global pandemic can ruin your best predictions, isn’t it? Originally published on May 8th, 2019, this combination book review, social theory essay and early 2020 election forecast is one of my favorite pieces on Can’t You Read; except for the part where I implied Donald Trump would beat an out of touch racist like Joe Biden in 2020, because I didn’t know Captain Trips was going to hang almost half a million bodies on Downmarket Mussolini. On the plus side, I still think the review of Ibram X. Kendi‘s incredible book “Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America” holds up well, and given the neoliberal triumphalism surrounding us today on Biden’s inauguration day, any discussion about the low key white supremacy of Not In My Back Yard liberals, and the silent segregation of America, is a conversation worth having. I should also mention that while I don’t think Kendi is much of a radical, his work has certainly informed my own discussions about the economics of racism in the Pig Empire, and I’d liked to reiterate my wholehearted recommendation of “Stamped From the Beginning” in this space again.

“Importantly however, Kendi’s argument moves beyond proving that there’s largely nothing new about the racist ideas that shape American society today and explores the larger economic reasons behind the ongoing and purposeful propagation of bigoted, racist and anti-black ideas. Thus, in contrast to the frankly missionary approach of the liberal orthodoxy, Stamped from the Beginning successfully argues that racial economic inequity is not the result of popularly embraced racist ideas, but rather that the racist ideas themselves are created and marketed by the ruling classes to defend and justify already existing economic inequity.”

To read more about Kendi’s important book, NIMBY liberalism and how politicians like Trump exploit latent white supremacy over on Can’t You Read, click on the quotation above, or the title header below:

Stamped From the Beginning, NIMBYs & Blockbusting

nina illingworth

Independent writer, critic and analyst with a left focus. Please help me fight corporate censorship by sharing my articles with your friends online!

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