2

8-Week Class

Overcoming Racism: A Radical Approach

Syllabus

SECTION I: The Roots of Racial Prejudice
Week / Session Title/Theme / Reading
Week 1 / Has racism always existed? The truth can set us free
The origins of racist ideology in the rise of capitalism and the desire for cheap labor and "free" land--all of which led to Black enslavement and the genocide of the indigenous people of the Americas. / Oliver C. Cox, Caste, Class, and Race, pp. 321-322 (through first paragraph of "The Beginning of Racial Antagonism" on 322),
and pp. 330-352
Week 2 / Profit and prejudice under capitalism
How the super-exploitation of people of color sustains capitalism to this day. / 1. Oliver C. Cox, Caste, Class, and Race, pp. 321-322 (through first paragraph of "The Beginning of Racial Antagonism" on 322), and pp. 330-352
2. Debra O’Gara, “Profit & Prejudice: Why it will take a revolution to end racism,” Freedom Socialist (Vol. 17/No. 1)
Optional: Oliver C. Cox, Caste, Class, & Race, pp. 322-329
Week 3 / Autonomy or separatism: Which road for people of color?
An examination of the need for independent organizing and the implications of a separatist solution. / 1. Richard Fraser, Revolutionary Integration: Dialectics of Black Liberation, pp. 37-40
2. Tom Boot, Revolutionary Integration: Yesterday and Today, pp. 91-95, and pp. 101-104
3. Yolanda Alaniz and Megan Cornish, Viva la Raza: A History of Chicano Identity and Resistance, pp. 188-197
Week / Class Title/Theme / Reading
Week 4 / Blacks and the unfinished Freedom Struggle
The militant history of African American workers and their critical place as leaders in the movements for social justice. / 1. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, pp. 26-40
2. Danielle L. McGuire, At the Dark End of the Street: Black Women, Rape, and Resistance--a New History of the Civil Rights Movement from Rosa Parks to the Rise of Black Power, "Prologue," pp. xv-xxiii
Optional: Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, pp. 1-26
W.E.B. Du Bois, Black Reconstruction in America: 1860-1880, Chapter XVII, “The Propaganda of History,” pp. 711-729
SECTION II: Bridging the Race Divide
Week / Class Title/Theme / Reading
Week 5 / Feminists of color: Putting it all together
The pivotal role of women and queers of color in weaving togetherthe threads of race, sex, sexuality and class. / 1. Audre Lorde, "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference," Sister Outsider, pp. 114-123
2. Merle Woo, "Stonewall Was a Riot--Now We Need a Revolution," Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation, pp. 290-294
3. Merle Woo, “Yellow Woman Speaks,” from Selected Poems, p. 52
4. Midnight Sun, “Sex/Gender Systems in Native North America,” Living the Spirit: A Gay American Indian Anthology, pp. 32-36, and pp. 45-47
5. Nancy Reiko Kato, Women of Color: Front-Runners for Freedom, pp. 31-33
Optional: Dorothy Roberts, Killing the Black Body, “Introduction,” pp. 3-21
Week / Class Title/Theme / Reading
Week 6 / Immigrant workers: Rekindling the spirit of unionism
The unique challenges and contributions of immigrants inthe workplaceand in the labor movement. / 1. Christina López, excerpt from Estamos en la lucha: Immigrant women light the fires of resistance
2. Christina López, “La Raza Studies, ¡sí!”
3. Nellie Wong, “Where is my country?”
4. Ann Rogers, "NAFTA: Tri-country genocide against indigenous people," Voices of Color, pp. 121-124
Week 7 / Challenges and rewards of organizing across color lines
Making common cause and building effective solidarity despite racial and cultural differences. / 1. W.E.B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk, “The Forethought”
2. Darryl Powell and Emily Woo Yamasaki, "Blacks and Asians: We are NOT enemies," Voices of Color, pp. 76-79
3. Mari Matsuda, “We Will Not Be Used,” The Reporter
4. Phillis Whitmore and Adrienne Weller, "What road for healing the divisions between African Americans and Jews?" Voices of Color, pp. 135-138
5. Nellie Wong, “You were born,” Voices of Color, pp. 154-155
Week 8 / Revolutionary Integration: The people’s tool for dismantling the master’s house
The vanguard role of people of color and the power of working across the racial divide to fight injustice and oppression, and to help shape a new society. / 1. Emily Woo Yamasaki and Andrea Bauer, "How can African American liberation be won? An answer to the Spartacist League's narrow conception of Revolutionary Integration," Freedom Socialist (June 2006)
2. Tom Boot, Revolutionary Integration: Yesterday and Today, pp. 147-154, and pp. 193-195

Co-sponsored by Radical Women and the Freedom Socialist Party

www.socialism.com