Who Is Antiracist?: Beliefs, Motivations, and Politics

In the summer of 2020 when protests were mobilizing for social justice, the term ＂antiracist＂ started getting more traction. It demanded a more active civic orientation and a commitment to uprooting racism from institutions. In Who Is Antiracist? George Yancey and Hayoung David Oh use this flashpoint moment to ask, what are the characteristics of those who support antiracism? Who is most likely to be swayed toward this set of commitments, who is not, and how do they understand each other?

Who Is Antiracist? provides a systematic approach to understanding the motivations and intentions of racial progressives as well as the impact of political ideology on antiracism. The authors discuss the theoretical origins of contemporary antiracism and review key works of antiracism to piece together the characteristics that define it. They also create the Antiracism Attitude Scale to explore the demographic makeup and social views of those who support the type of antiracism popularized in the United States.

Acknowledging that antiracism faces powerful challenges in fully obtaining the goals articulated by its proponents, Who Is Antiracist? enlightens us about the continuing racial conflict in our society and warns against the risk of antiracism becoming just a proxy for ordinary party politics.

George Yancey is Professor of Sociology at Baylor University. He is author of Who is White: Latinos, Asians, and the New Black/Nonblack Divide, and co-author of Transcending Racial Barriers: Toward a Mutual Obligations Approach.

Hayoung David Oh, MPH, is the Community Affiliate Research Coordinator at the Woodson Center in Washington, DC.