Jul 4, 2018
1 Min read time
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Image: National Archives and Records Administration
Your fourth of July reading.
Throughout the modern history of the United States, promoting freedom at home has been tied up with justifying security prerogatives and military presence abroad. The pieces below are taken from our archive, and deal with the intersections of imperialism, racism, and capitalism, both internationally and at home.
—Rosie Gillies
Against National Security Citizenship
by Aziz Rana
“At the heart of U.S. civic nationalism is the idea that the country’s militarism is always in service of standing warmheartedly against oppression in all the world.”
• • •
To Remake the World: Slavery, Racial Capitalism, and Justice
by Walter Johnson
The phrase “Empire of Cotton” points to how imperialism can be practiced at home. But to say that slaves were dehumanized is “harmful, and worth resisting.”
• • •
Peace Regimes
by Jessie Kindig
“To use peace to describe policies reliant on violence is to craft a story about ends that justifies all possible means.”
• • •
What Did Cedric Robinson Mean by Racial Capitalism?
by Robin D. G. Kelley
Talk of liberty and independence seems grossly bloated when we live in a modern world system of racial capitalism dependent on slavery, imperialism, and genocide.
• • •
Frederick Douglass is Dead
by Joshua Bennett
On July 5, 1852, Douglass delivered his renowned speech “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July?” This poem imagines Douglass both as poltergeist and holy spirit.
• • •
The Market Police
by J. W. Mason
The origins of neoliberalism can be traced to an admiration for colonial empires and their ability to maintain hierarchies of wealth and power.
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July 04, 2018
1 Min read time
