By Jahwan
What is Racial Capitalism?
To understand the full depth of racial capitalism, we have to have a good understanding of capitalism. Capitalism is the privatization of land, means of production, and product distribution. This means that the government plays a small role in production and distribution because everything is owned by private companies. Capitalism can be broken down into two fundamental properties- maximize profits and minimize cost. We cannot talk about capitalism without mentioning the racism that it builds off of, especially in the United States. Capitalism in and of itself, requires for some people to fail, and in the United States this means the minorities fail. Racial capitalism, specifically, is the process in which a person’s racial identity determines their social and economic value. This process exploits people of color, specifically immigrants and black people.
Outsourcing
We have all heard of fast fashion, in which companies outsource their labor. They hire another party, typically in Asian countries, and this party will perform the service. These countries (like China, India, Bangladesh, and Thailand) don't have strict labor laws, so many of the women or children working in these factories get paid only a few dollars a day. This cheap labor allows the American brands to sell their clothes for less, like Forever 21 or H&M. In other cases, it gives the company a high profit margin, like with Zara or TopShop. Fast fashion brands are the overwhelming majority of shops when you walk into a mall, showing how capitalism has allowed these brands to flourish, even though they are extremely unethical. Outsourcing makes it clear that many major companies prioritize money and profits instead of the well being of their workers.
This is a prime example of how capitalists are rewarded for outsourcing, thus leading to the normalization of demanding cheap labor. This harms minorities because most outsourcing comes from non-white, non-western countries.
Immigrants
Some companies, typically those that are not selling a product, do not need to outsource to make more money. These companies still rely on cheap labor. This labor relies on immigrants which is why most of the advanced economies of western countries were built on immigrant labor.
Our society applauds immigrants for coming to America to want a new life, yet when they come here they are not accepted. Media romanticizes the “American Dream”, but only for white people. People of color that migrate to the United States are met with lower standards of living and lower wages. One of the many tricks that capitalists use is saying that the immigrants are “less qualified”. Employers also know that they hold power over immigrant workers, using deportation and criminalization as a way to keep them silent. Newer immigrants tend not to speak English, and are desperate for work, causing them to settle for worse working conditions and a lower salary. This adds to the power imbalance and the exploitation, leading immigrants to being extremely vulnerable in a capitalist country.
The United States has backed up immigrant labor in the past. The U.S. previously held bracero programs that were implemented to fix the shortage of labor during the 1940s. The bracero program brought millions of Mexican farmers into the U.S. Although they were filling this labor shortage, the U.S. limited the amount of Mexicans immigrating in order to maintain a Mexican minority and thus, the power dynamic.
Slavery and Colonization
Capitalism can only exist with capital, and the original capital was given by slaves. This ideology started in colonialism. Europeans would come into African and Asian nations and colonize. They were able to manipulate the natives into feeling inferior to them, leading to colorism in African and Asian countries. After the colonists consolidated their power amongst the natives, they created systems where whites were at the top, half-whites were next, and natives were at the very bottom.
A major example of this is in the Americas. When the Spanish came into the Americas, they solidified their power over the native americans and created caste systems among them. Although slavery was prevalent in Native American nations before the Spanish colonized, it was not as abundant. The Spanish brought with them harsher forms of slavery. They made the natives the minority on their own land, and manipulated them into serving as slaves on their sugar plantations. This slavery feuled and supported global capitalism.
As time went on, capitalism continued to make its way to new countries, The United States separated itself from Britain and declared itself an independent nation. Even then, the foundation of capitalism in the United States was slavery. American capitalism was built on the backs of slaves, as the profit margins were high and the labor was free. This came back to the two fundamental aspects of capitalism, cheap labor and high profits.
It is very clear that capitalism started with slavery, and we cannot just erase that. Capitalism cannot exist without some form of oppression. Many capitalists argue for a free market, declaring “the freer the market the freer the people”. This free market gives us low standards for labor. Free market labor will allow for companies to have more freedom with the way they treat their workers. This will bring us back to the problem with outsourcing, but sometimes it can get much worse.
Implicit vs. Explicit Racism
When having an open dialogue on racial issues in our society and government, intent often plays a crucial role. Even if a certain aspect of our government were not intended to have racist implications, the outcome determines whether or not these aspects are racist. This is known as implicit racism. A few examples of implicit racism are internalized racism, macro-aggressions against one race, and bias in the workplace. These are different from explicit racism because explicit racism requires us to know the intent. An example of explicit bias is the Jim Crow Laws. These laws explicitly declared black people as “less than” white people.
Many will try to discredit the racism in capitalism, by saying that there is no mal intent. The intent does not matter when it comes to implicit racism. If the outcome is racist, we have to fix it. We should not pick and choose which racism we will try to dismantle, instead we need to acknowledge it. There is no way to move into a better society, if we do not acknowledge casual racism in our day to day lives as well as the bigger racial issues.
Why Does Racial Capitalism Matter?
Racism and capitalism are intertwined, we cannot talk about one without bringing up the other. Racial capitalism is the direct cause of almost all inequality we see today. We must acknowledge and have deeper conversations about the implications of racial capitalism. It’s time we own up to the faults of history and move to correct them.
Sources:
Cheav, Maya. “Fast Fashion and Outsourcing - Fashion Stores Always Seem to Have a Million New Products to Constantly Keep up with the Customer's Needs. But Have You Ever Considered How They Make Their Clothes so Quickly?”Sustainability, 26 Feb. 2020, blogs.chapman.edu/sustainability/2020/02/26/fast-fashion-and-outsourcing/.
Desmond, Matthew. “American Capitalism Is Brutal. You Can Trace That to the Plantation.”The New York Times, The New York Times, 14 Aug. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/slavery-capitalism.html?mtrref=www.google.com&assetType=REGIWALL.
III, Charles R. Lawrence, et al. “Racial Capitalism.”Harvard Law Review, 20 June 2013, harvardlawreview.org/2013/06/racial-capitalism/.
Scott, Helen, and Lance Selfa. “How Capitalism Uses Workers.”Socialist Worker Online, 21 Apr. 2006, socialistworker.org/2006-1/585/585_07_Capitalism.php.
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