Proximity to Blackness: American Empire, the After-Life of Slavery, and 'Immigrants'
Posted: 4 Nov 2013
Date Written: November 3, 2013
Abstract
A prominent straw man in arguments about the impact of non-white immigrants on poor black people argues that the former are the reason why the latter are not given reparations for being made into permanent chattel. However, if we account for a few key facts we may begin to think more critically. Firstly most non-white immigrants are not actually a post-civil rights era demographic. Secondly, the racialized status of non-white immigrants is contemporaneous with slavery, American expansionism, and the various phases of the second life of slavery and the after-life of slavery. Finally, this argument relies on the premise that black economic development and political autonomy has been met with open arms. In this paper, I explore the stakes of this argument and the cultural work that is being done by it.
Keywords: non-white immigration, poor black people, slavery, American expansionism, second life of slavery, after-life of slavery, black economic development
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