The Reframing of Racism

A little side project exploring the origin and evolution of the term "racism" from inception to modern day.

Dive into the origins and evolution of one of the most charged words in history—racism. This side project explores how the term was born, its transformation through ideological and political struggles, and its journey from a concept critiquing oppression to a weapon in modern-day cultural battles, unpacking how "racism" became a driver for leftist ideologies and societal shifts. It's a bold, unapologetic look at the word that reshaped public discourse, from inception to now.

This project will become a short book when it’s done.

Subscribers to The Red Menace Collective will receive a free digital copy of the book and be able to follow along with draft chapters as the book is written.

This is the second chapter, covering the post-World War II reframing of racism in the cultural zeitgeist, including the introduction of The Frankfurt School, up through the civil rights era.

The Reframing of Racism

As the dust of World War II settled, the global understanding of racism underwent a profound transformation. The Holocaust was utilized to shock the world into recognizing racism as a moral and political crisis. This reckoning did not exist in isolation—it merged with the ideological battles of the Cold War, the intellectual migration of Marxist scholars to the United States, and the rise of global institutions like the United Nations. Together, these forces reframed racism as a structural phenomenon, inseparably tied to power, economics, and ideology. However, this reframing was far from neutral; it aligned with and embedded Marxist critiques of capitalism into the heart of academic and cultural institutions.

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