More praise for Dunikoski’s subversive strategy in Brunswick, this time as a model for American politics. But there were two more women who also put race front and center in a Southern courtroom and won last week — their case no less high profile. nytimes.com/2021/11/30/bri…
Robbie Kaplan and Karen Dunn’s $25 million civil victory in Charlottesville came exactly because — not in spite of — an approach that showed jurors the blatant racism that led to tragedy in 2017 and then asked them to reject it. That also worked, but somehow got less attention.
Perhaps there’s another lesson here. As someone who has covered race and politics for decades, I’ll offer a different takeaway that is also worth discussion:
In order to confront and defeat racism, it takes White people with skin in the game to lead the charge.
In order to confront and defeat racism, it takes White people with skin in the game to lead the charge.
Privilege is the luxury of being able to choose to “ignore race” to make to people who share your lived experience more comfortable or open to your argument. That strategy worked in Brunswick; it’s less clear that it would work for a Black lawyer, let alone a Black activist.
A reminder: Black people in America do not and have not ever had the option to be colorblind — only the hope that occasionally, enough of their fellow citizens are, so that we may all treated equally under the law, whether it’s by police, our employer, a bank, our landlord, etc.
Who is fighting is often as important as how. That is the other lesson of last week as our country continues to grapple with issues including how to confront inequality, voter suppression, the history we teach our children.
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