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Antiracism

The termantiracism began to see broad usage in the 1960s. Antiracism occurs in a variety of settings and includes the range of practices that challenge the use of interpersonal, institutional, and ideological power to dominate or oppress others based on race. Those who identify as antiracist often work at eliminating racism in all its forms. This entry provides an overview of antiracism, an examination of multiculturalism versus antiracism, attention to the primary components of antiracist theory, a discussion of two primary subfields of antiracism, and a summary of the critiques of antiracism.

Overview

Antiracism can be defined as activities that identify, resist, and transform all forms of race-based oppression and domination carried out by individuals and institutions. At a theoretical level, attention to antiracism has occurred primarily since the late 20th century. In practice, individuals have resisted acts of systemic racial discrimination since groups in power have used constructions of racial difference to oppress. Recent attention to antiracism goes beyond the recognition of racism and calls for social change at institutional levels; asserts the importance of interlocking systems of oppression, including gender, race, and class; and advocates an understanding of racism that centers on issues of structural power and equity as opposed to individual attitudes and beliefs. Antiracists believe that regardless of the racial group to which one belongs, race has a bearing on one's experience and sense of self, on one's identification with various cultural groups, and on one's access to resources and opportunities. Antiracist theory also asserts that widespread racial inequities at structural levels exist and that systemic practices of privilege and discrimination that benefit Whites and harm racial minorities are prevalent and often invisible to the dominant racial group.

For antiracists, understandings of racism must go beyond analyses that focus on individual beliefs and race prejudice and attend to systems of oppression rooted in institutional forms of power. Three types of racism are interpersonal, institutional, and ideological. At an interpersonal level, individuals interact with others based on prejudice, stereotypes, and ethnocentrism, and such interactions demonstrate a pattern of dislike and result in harm. Institutional racism is farther-reaching and solidifies and justifies a racialized social order in which organizational practices and policies penalize racial minorities. Ideological racism includes cultural values and social norms that act to legitimize institutional and interpersonal racism. Although antiracists stress the primary significance of institutional racism, they advocate acting against racism at all three levels (individual, institutional, and ideological), as these forms of racism are interconnected.

Antiracism and Liberal Multiculturalism

Scholars and activists often contrast antiracism with liberal multiculturalism, also called simply multiculturalism. Both antiracism and multiculturalism are responses to how individuals with a range of cultural identities live together. Whereas proponents of antiracism focus largely on power and systems of discrimination, supporters of multiculturalism emphasize the beliefs and attitudes of individuals. Those in support of antiracism have often accused those who support liberal multiculturalism of drawing attention away from issues of power and equity. One's identification with antiracism or with multiculturalism has important implications related to how one understands race and responds to racism.

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