1. Ruth Wilson Gilmore suggests that if we removed all the white people from the story, then capitalism wouldn’t be racial anymore. This is a way of saying that the benefits and privileges given to people seen as white are deeply embedded in our economic and social systems, which often disadvantage others, especially people of color as we can see from the examples of slavery and apartheid. According to her argument, racism is created by and used to support these inequalities, ensuring that resources and opportunities are not distributed fairly.

  2. Gilmore argues that the criminal justice system helps make criminals by unfairly targeting and punishing certain groups, particularly the poor and people of color. By labeling people as criminals, the system not only punishes them but also keeps them marginalized, making it harder for them to fit back into society and increasing the chances they’ll end up in trouble again. She suggests that these problems are not because of the individual’s actions alone but because of how the system treats them. She gave the example of California aggressively building prisons and prisons since the 1980s instead of focusing on creating better societal infrastructures such as public universities or community parks.

  3. Towards the end of her video, Prof. Gilmore talks about the “liberation struggle” as a movement that aims to break down the unfair systems of racial capitalism and create a fairer society. This isn’t just about making small changes but rethinking and changing the whole system to remove biases and inequalities. This struggle requires people from different backgrounds to work together and understand how issues like race, class, gender, and the environment are connected. Gilmore sees it as a long-term effort to fight injustice and imagine new ways of living where fairness and justice are at the core. I agree with her stance that there’s a need for collective work. The word choice of “radical dependency” fits perfectly with her argument as we’ve been designed to be interdependent on each other.

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