Antiracism is Not an Action Item Boutique Activism and Academic (Anti)Racism

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Five genderless geometric figures, colored in smooth alternating gradients of red organge, lime green, lavender, and azure blue, work together to simultaneously deconstruct and reconstruct a beige Western Classical building. On the left, two of the figures hammer and chisel at a trumbling Corinthian column while two more on the right paint the building and an amorphous roof-supporting structure in similar gradient colors. Framed by the two pillars is the final figure carrying a white door with only one hinge attached in front of a colorful open doorway.
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Published: Nov 22, 2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2688-9595.2022.3.1.65-74
Keywords:
academia activism antiracism antisemitism Jewish nonprofits performativity white supremacy

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Mara Lee Grayson

Abstract

 As organizations and institutions responded to calls for racial justice fol­lowing the murder of George Floyd in 2020, many did so in performative ways that maintained the racial status quo. In this article, the author argues that such performativity has been both pervasive and intentional. Drawing parallels be­tween her experiences advocating for racial justice in a nonprofit organization and in an English department, the author explores the type of liberal boutique ac­tivism that, already common in nonprofit spaces, directs much of the discourse on (anti)racism in academic settings and squashes more substantive efforts to challenge white supremacy. The author also explores how her positionality as a white Jewish woman impacted her ex­periences as an antiracist activist in an academic department, illuminating how linkages between racism and antisem­itism are covertly weaponized in white spaces by those who profess interest in social justice but really seek to uphold white supremacy.

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Vol. 3 No. 1 (2022): [Guest Edited Special Issue] Conferencing toward Antiracism: Reckoning with the Past, Reimagining the Present
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Articles
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