You may not have heard of this term, but you might have seen it. It’s called racism laundering. It describes a practice that happens online and in real life.
Here’s the idea. You get a black or brown person to peddle your white supremacist talking points as their own. Using their race to help you avoid any accusations of racism.
Here’s how it works. A black or brown person who subscribes to conservative ideals becomes a mouthpiece for white supremacist views. The white supremacist views are from far-right media, political organizations, and others.
Some people such as Candace Owens, Tim Scott, Herschel Walker, and Daniel Cameron come to mind.
These outlets incentivize a person of color to spew racist ideals in service of the outlet’s agenda.
Conservative writer Dominique Samuels outed a paper for something like this. Writing a piece verging on racism that she turned down.
Become A Hot Commodity
Racism-laundering seems to play into a larger phenomenon of “influencer peddling.” It’s become much more common than it used to be. The practice of influential black and brown people selling their minority status to the highest bidder.
Some see it as a winning strategy. There’s always a need for black and brown voices to communicate messaging that might come off as racist if people knew it was coming from a white person.
A person of color agrees to discuss issues from a conservative, even borderline racist, point of view. This makes them become a hot commodity to the right.
There’s the added benefit of winning over more black and brown people by showing them someone who looks like them, who calls out the liberal left.
Racism laundering may not always be apparent, but the practice is alive and well. Once you’re aware of it, you’ll start to recognize the signs of it.
It will help you begin to question some of the messaging coming from black and brown people that are meant to normalize white supremacy.