1. 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?

Whiteness in this context is related to Western Europeans that founded the concept of capitalism as we know it today.  Because they created the system, they placed themselves into a position of power above not just Africans, but also other Europeans that they deemed lesser than them.  Thus, the power imbalance of whiteness is deeply rooted within capitalism, and so long as that continues, capitalism with continue to be racial capitalism.  To this day, capitalism preys on those who are not white, or are not the correct type of white, because the system, will inherently continue to raise those who are white over those who are not until either white people disappear from capitalism, or capitalism is dismantled and the racism is removed.

2. Gilmore makes the point that criminals are actually 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?

According to Gilmore, the basis started with the creation of more and more prisons over other forms of infrastructure that may have been more beneficial to areas, such as museums, factories, parks, or schools.  In order to keep enough “workers” in these prisons, there needs to be a steady stream of criminals, which can be created through longer sentences, more criminals being sentenced, and more behaviors being listed as criminal in nature.  Essentially, the prison industrial complex relies on there being enough criminals to maintain it, therefore, societies such as the United States with these prison systems, need to create and continue a category of criminals.  I agree with her view because the prison industrial complex in America functions more like a low-cost labor factory system and in order to maintain that, a working class of criminals needs to be maintained.  When also accounting for systemic racism which leads to people of color being more likely to be targeted and more likely to be given longer sentences, that seems to line up with what Gilmore is saying.

3. Describe how you understand what Prof. Gilmore – in the last part of her video – calls “liberation struggle”?

Liberation struggle according to Professor Gilmore is a place-based struggle that is specific to the needs and struggles of the people where they are.  As far as I understand it, liberation struggle is a form of solidarity with the others in your local community where the goal is to come together in order to try to determine how to overcome the struggles that may be keeping your community down.  These struggles can include racism, inequality, and a lack of fairness for certain members of that community.  The goal is to create places where the community can share education and conversation with one another in order to find ways to overcome these struggles together.