A material reality, no myth

White skin privilege isn’t a myth, but a material reality at the “point of production” and far beyond. And this material reality, among other reasons, gives racism its durability and persistence. Back in the day, we (in the communist party) either minimized or dismissed white skin advantages or privileges, thinking that any acknowledgement of them was anti-working class and classless. We argued that the source of racist thinking and behavior on the part of white workers was to be found in the penetration of ruling class ideology into the life veins of working class life. It was an invasive species, a pollutant, albeit the most dangerous one, that infected the “thought patterns” of white workers. Little or no space in our analysis was accorded to white skin advantages. Or the role of white workers in the production and reproduction of such advantages. Or the internal generation of racist ideology from within the matrix and contradictions of working class life. A class approach, worthy of its name, can’t dodge this complex and contradictory reality.