François Hollande's misguided move: taking 'race' out of the constitution.

François Hollande's misguided move: taking 'race' out of the constitution.

In this opinion piece in The Guardian anti-racism scholars Alana Lentin and Valerie Amieux discuss why not talking about races does not lead naturally to the demise of 'race thinking' but instead just obscures the persistent inequalities. "What makes racism a modern phenomenon, rather than a perennial one, is that theory and science could be used to make the inequality upon which these systems of exploitation relied appear natural. The common argument about slavery, for example, was that slaves would not know what to do if freed as it was in their nature to be dominated by "superior" whites. The justifications were not purely biological or to do with skin colour. Culture, religion and nationality were seen as coterminous with biology. "

Alana Lentin

Valérie Amiraux

The Guardian

February 12, 2013

France
United States