Monday Minutes E1_The Questions Are in the Categories: Why I Renounce Race and Racial Thinking
Word. That title should be all that’s needed to be said. But of course it is not. The questions? The categories? Which questions and which categories? I thank you for (not) asking. Journey with me a bit. There’s no established destination. Just thought moving as it moves freely and according to the lure of honestly attending to what follows from what precedes it.
Go!
That “Go" actually means to stay and think/live with me.
My upcoming book, Multi/Race/Less/Ness: A Process Philosophy (Bloomsbury, Nov 2025), argues that racial and race-related language must not be refurbished (which has been the trend of race studies, critical race theory, philosophy of race, liberation theologies, etc.) but responsibly abolished. If there is any hope of achieving a world devoid of racism, this might have to happen, as uncomfortable as it might be to exit the wheel we’ve been spinning around since the idea of race was invented. We’ve been led to believe (even by those who argue that race is imagined onto bodies, minds, souls in what is referred to as the “social construction” position) that race isn’t the real problem, but racism is. Stated differently, those who uphold such views from Cornel West to Nicole Hannah-Jones assert that race and racial language not only indicate artificial colonial groupings of humans but also refer to authentic histories, cultures, and useful means of resistance against holistic oppression certain so-called “groups” have faced. Thus, there is value in preserving them. And I totally respect the work influential intellects and exemplary humans like West and Jones (among others) have birthed into the world. Some of this scholarship has set the groundwork for my own in various areas.
Buuuuutttttt…..
I also get off of their bus here.
In Multi/Race/Less/Ness, I attempt something I’ve never seen done in the annals of the philosophy of race, philosophies and theologies of liberation, pushes toward authentic and balanced renderings of world history that reveal instead of hiding the rape of people, languages, land, and ways of life prevalent in colonization, etc. In the text, I argue that race/race-related language and thinking (“race-related” is the region under which I classify terms such as “Asian,” “Latinx,” and “Indigenous,” for example, since to many they reflect cultures but still can imply/embed notions of biological race depending on how they are used and who is using then) IS trauma.
Read the last sentence again. I’ll “take your word” that you did. Many times, we are taught that race is the site of trauma. It is a “preexisting” unity of consciousness (Kant) and complex subjectivity (Pinn) on which befalls forever transforming trauma-producing tragedies such as colonization. In this the view, the so-called “Latina/o/x/é,” “Asian,” “Caribbean,” “White,” “Indigenous,” “Black,” “Pacific Islander,” “Middle Eastern,” etc. “person” was around before the colonization projects of Spain, Britain, France, Belgium, and others. Even though the name as it stands emerges from the domination of various empires, the names are useful and are not derogatory and distance the wearer from the holistic liberation one may seek using such titles in movements such as “Brown” Power and “Black” Lives Matter. You can be “Asian” and proud. The trauma that happens to the person ingressing “White” identity can be remedied when one relinquishes one’s “Whiteness” by acknowledging and renouncing their privilege as a “White” person yet still identifying as “White.” Again, many who adhere to a social construction theory of race seem to believe this is theoretically possible.
My position in the text, which I refer to as a “thought experiment,” flies in the face of this view. If race=trauma, it is tragedy befalling a human otherwise outside of and beyond racial lines of scrimmage. In this view, the human is preexistent and race is a cataclysm that unfortunately happened to the human. The very construction of race/racial language/race-related language and thinking, which is a by-product of colonization (many of you would agree with this to some degree), is the havoc-wreaking idea intended to subordinate some and dominate others. Starting in the mid-late 15th century in the Andalusian regions (modern-day Spain and Portugal) which would expand and contract during the over 750 year stint of the Moors and as a resistance to their occupation of the region, race is not a benign category but a malignant imposition on the fluidity of one’s humanity. In addition to language, race is a way of thinking that intrinsically relies on subordination and domination, and (in my view) will always find itself harnessed between struggle and victory (Anderson).
So, the questions are posed in the very logical schematic of racial categories. Why are they persuasive when they don’t have to be? Are they self-refuting? Who and what benefits from their continued usage? These questions and more have been boldly tackled by the likes of Kelly Ann Rocquermore and David L. Brunsma’s Beyond Black: Biracial Identity in America, Sheena Michele Mason’s The Raceless Antiracist: Why Ending Race is the Future of Antiracism, Starlete Thomas’ Take Me to the Water: The Raceless Gospel as Baptismal Pedagogy for a Desegregated Church, Larry L.W. Miles Afro and Indigenous Intersectionality in America as Nomen, Citlalli’s “I am Not Hispanic. I am Not Latino,” and more. I have my own way of answering the dilemma, and I think my contribution, while novel in my opinion, should be considered along with the aforementioned, who all do the metawork by being radically skeptical of the categories themselves.
If race is indeed trauma, it can be seen as a problem in need of a remedy. I won’t say what my remedy is. That’s why you should pick up the book. See how I suggest it be responsibly eliminated. See if you think there’s something to this thought experiment I’ve found to be beneficial for my own perpetual becoming. See if you think it’s bullshit. Perhaps it is. You won’t know until you dive in and see how the cenote feels as it swims through the pores of your skin.
ISLAM(ism)
Multi/Race/Less/Ness: A Process Philosophy out 11/13/25 via Bloomsbury. Pre-order for the low limbo HERE.
