Ruth Gilmore says that capitalism will stop being racial capitalism when all the white people disappear from the story. What’s the connection between “whiteness” and racism, do you think?
The connection between “whiteness” and racism is capitalism. Capitalism depends on racial practices and hierarchy. If we undo racism, we, in turn, will undo capitalism because capitalism requires inequality.
Gilmore makes the point that criminals are being created by the criminal justice and prison system (she says, “the category of ‘criminal person’ can be perpetuated”). According to Gilmore, how does that happen? How does the prison system create new “criminals “? Do you agree with her view?
Prison systems create new “criminals” by expanding criminalization and incarceration. For the prison system to function, there must be a steady stream of criminals eligible to be categorized as a “criminal person.” So, the people in charge make sentences longer, the list of crimes grows, and people who have been caught up in the system who reenter society and are part of a community perpetuate the category of criminal.
Describe how you understand what Prof. Gilmore – in the last part of her video – calls “liberation struggle”?
I understand “liberation struggle” to mean the struggles and needs of people in a specific place. Every liberation struggle is different in size and scale, but it is all based on neighborhoods, cities, and rural communities experiencing disadvantages.