Rethinking the Language of Race and Racism

Abstract

The members of the Asian Law Journal are to be commended for organizing a symposium to interrogate the connections between emergent critical theories of race and the strategies and practices of social justice lawyering. Both legal scholars and activists have bemoaned the widening gap between theory and practice, called for a rethinking of the traditional civil rights paradigm, and wondered how to seize the "moral high ground" with respect to contemporary political debates about racial inequality. To contribute to this broader dialogue, I want to offer some brief observations about the conceptual language of race, racism, and anti-racism, and discern its meaning for the task at hand. In January of 2000, Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown was asked by San Francisco Chronicle political columnists Phillip Matier and Andrew Ross about his downtown revitalization plans. The following dialogue ensued: Matier & Ross: Some people say you're just trying to bring 10,000 white people into the downtown with all these high-priced live-work lofts. Brown: How do you know what color they are going to be? Matier & Ross: Come on, who do you think lives in these lofts? Brown: Well, that's kind of a stigmatization of nonwhite people. There are African Americans, Chinese, Filipinos and there are white people and by the way, race is just kind of silly anyway because 99 percent of our DNA is the same. Matier & Ross: Maybe, but race is still a part of politics especially local politics. Brown: It's a fact that is often manipulated and used. Yes, there is a