Thread by @paulcrider

My latest at @liberalcurrents expands my thoughts on the English and Kalla "Racial Equality Frames" study and the way liberal moderates seized on its results to counsel tip-toeing around racial justice. This is a mistake. THREAD liberalcurrents.com/scorched-earth…

.@lindsey_brink & @mattyglesias are my foils, but I view this as constructive dialogue, not confrontation. Lindsey's vision of a vibrant liberal commercial republic is close to mine. He's a friend of @liberalcurrents, having contributed there himself. 2/n liberalcurrents.com/the-new-class-…

.@mattyglesias's penchant for left-punching is irritating, but he's indispensable on issues very important to me: liberal housing/zoning reform & expanding freedom of movement. See @matthewdownhour's deservedly glowing review of One Billion Americans. 3/n liberalcurrents.com/liberalism-and…

We all want positive sum policies that make everyone better off. Any ambitious policy reform that's worth a damn will have to improve Black social outcomes because of already existing racial inequality. This is true even for policies that are on their face race-neutral. 4/n

The "race-neutral" folks think if we're quiet abt the racial egalitarian effects of facially race-neutral policies, then racists won't notice, whites won't get spooked, & we can all reap the rewards. But this has been the Dem strategy all along. Dog whistle tactics persist. 5/n

.@hmcghee's new book, The Sum of Us, describes how positive sum policies are reframed in non-zero-sum racial terms, ultimately to negative sum results. The race-neutral strategy won't work even if we could get pols and activists aligned. 6/n

We can preempt racist framings by calling them out & naming the elites who benefit from them. Racist framings make Black people (immigrants, etc) the villains. We can replace the villains in the story with the actual bad guys & stress how we all benefit by working together. 7/n

@lindsey_brink worries about zero-sum narratives in antiracist activism. But we should distinguish between status goods, that whites must lose if we take liberal equality seriously, and material goods & capabilities that can increase for all in a true harmony of interests. 8/n

Positive-sumness—expanding freedom & capabilities for all—is at the heart of antiracist activism. Multiracial solidarity yields a "solidarity dividend." Whites benefit from this dividend bc an antiracist political economy develops & leverages the creative powers of everyone. 9/n

In the long term this will even benefit even the most privileged class of white men, whom I liken to monarchs who would destroy their nations and the foundation of their own wealth to preserve their place of dominance in the hierarchy. 10/n

Finally, we can even appreciate this in Yglesian national greatness terms. Persisting racial inequality is a debilitating social disease that prevents America from being all that it can be. America is a racist country, but fighting racism is also as American as apple pie. 11/11