The interview is about an anthology book on black studies that he’s a part of. It also includes W.E.B. Du Bois, James Baldwin, Angela Davis, Octavia Butler, Bell Hooks, Barbara Smith, Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale. The ebook is available for free from Haymarket Books.
I.O.: You put this book together with two of the most prominent Black Marxists in the country, and most, if not all, of the featured writers are anti-capitalists. How did this collaboration come about?
C.K.: I’ve long admired Keeanga and Robin’s work as well as their uncompromising political analysis and understanding that Black liberation simply isn’t possible under capitalism. I think the anthology makes this argument quite well, and I hope it challenges readers to see that racism is not white supremacy’s only ingredient. White supremacy persists in part because of its relationship with capitalism, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and so on.
I.O.: What are you reading these days?
C.K.: No More Police: A Case for Abolition by Mariame Kaba and Andrea J. Ritchie. Abolition. Feminism. Now. by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie.
Edit: I’ve put this in c/news because I originally found this out via an article on The Hill and I was going to post that, but then I thought I’ll just post the original interview instead. It has a lot more information.
Criticism of capitalism, yes. Entirely disregarding it and saying that liberation is incompatible with capitalism, no.
Disagree. What do you think a radlib sounds like? That’s exactly what they would say. Without embracing a positive alternative to capitalism you can say whatever you want it doesn’t matter.
You’re missing the part where the radlibs make sure to shit on AES so that people don’t get the impression that they’re a mean bad tankie