Latinos, Asian Americans, and the Black-White Binary

 JOURNAL ARTICLE

Latino/As, Asian Americans, and the Black-White Binary

Linda Martín Alcoff

The Journal of Ethics

Vol. 7, No. 1, Race, Racism, and Reparations (2003), pp. 5-27 (23 pages)

Published By: Springer

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25115747

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Abstract

This paper aims to contribute toward coalition building by showing that, even if we try to build coalition around what might look like our most obvious common concern - reducing racism - the dominant discourse of racial politics in the United States inhibits an understanding of how racism operates vis-à-vis Latino/as and Asian Americans, and thus proves more of an obstacle to coalition building than an aid. The black/white paradigm, which operates to govern racial classifications and racial politics in the U.S., takes race in the U.S. to consist of only two racial groups, Black and White, with others understood in relation to one of these categories. I summarize and discuss the strongest criticisms of the paradigm and then develop two further arguments. Together these arguments show that continuing to theorize race in the U.S. as operating exclusively through the black/white paradigm is actually disadvantageous for all people of color in the U.S., and in many respects for whites as well (or at least for white union households and the white poor).

Journal Information

The Journal of Ethics seeks to publish articles on a wide range of topics in ethics, philosophically construed, including such areas as ethical theory, moral, social, political, and legal philosophy. Although The Journal of Ethics is primarily an organ of philosophical research, it publishes work on topics of concern to academics and professionals in a wide range of fields. The journal also seeks to publish the highest quality commentaries on works published in its pages. Analytical acuity as well as depth and range of philosophical scholarship are taken into account in the evaluation of submissions.

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Springer is one of the leading international scientific publishing companies, publishing over 1,200 journals and more than 3,000 new books annually, covering a wide range of subjects including biomedicine and the life sciences, clinical medicine, physics, engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, and economics.

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