Author: Scot Nakagawa

Scot Nakagawa is a political strategist and writer who has spent more than four decades exploring questions of structural racism, white supremacy, and social justice. Scot’s primary work has been in the fight against authoritarianism, white nationalism, and Christian nationalism. Currently, Scot is co-lead of the 22nd Century Initiative, a project to build the field of resistance to authoritarianism in the U.S.

Scot is a past Alston/Bannerman Fellow, an Open Society Foundations Fellow, and a recipient of the Association of Asian American Studies Community Leader Award. His writings have been included in Race, Gender, and Class in the United States: An Integrated Study, 9th Edition,  and Killing Trayvons: An Anthology of American Violence.

Scot's political essays, briefings, and other educational media can be found at his newsletter, We Fight the Right at scotnakagawa@substack.com. He is a sought after public speaker and educator who provides consultation on campaign and communications strategy, and fundraising.

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Legalizing Marijuana May Be A Good Idea, But It Is Not A Racial Justice Strategy

Ever since election day, liberal pundits and activists have been buzzing about the success of marijuana decriminalization ballot measures in Washington and Colorado. The general consensus is that these election victories and polls showing that a majority of Americans support decriminalization of marijuana is harbinger of better days to come, and not just because we may one day all be able to light up without legal consequences.

Among the most frequently made arguments for legalization is that it is a step toward ending mass incarceration resulting from the war on drugs. Many also argue that the cost of marijuana enforcement … Read more “Legalizing Marijuana May Be A Good Idea, But It Is Not A Racial Justice Strategy”

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The Unbearable Whiteness of Being GOP

This week on the National Review Online, NRO editor Jonah Goldberg and National Review’s Editor At Large John O’Sullivan had a discussion about GOP outreach.

“I see that the way we will get the Hispanics and the other groups, the Asians, as part of the Republican Coalition is to get them first part of the great American Coalition. Make them think of themselves, not make but, persuade them to think of themselves primarily as Americans. Restore the overarching, all-encompassing concept of an American identity, which we used to have, which we knew how to bring about and which in … Read more “The Unbearable Whiteness of Being GOP”

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We’re Not Over Overt Racism

 

I often hear political commentators and activists talk about how the Civil Rights Movement defanged overt racism as a politically and socially viable form of expression. Nowadays, folks claim, racists must speak in codes in order to mobilize white resentment.

I disagree. Yes, I get that things were once worse. I also agree that coded racism is a big problem. However, I don’t believe that overt racism is dead and buried. In fact, I think it’s making a comeback.

Here’s an example:

This picture appeared in a story in Jezebel criticizing the racism of these sorority members. Apparently higher … Read more “We’re Not Over Overt Racism”

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The Deserving Poor

This picture in the of a resident of publicly subsidized housing in New Orleans playing with an ipad sparked a hailstorm of responses. Among the most generous of them was this one,

“Not to rush to comment. I hope this is nothing more than someone gave him the iPad as a gift and he is using it for educational means or just playing games … I hope I am not over thinking this. I am not prejudice (sic) — this just did not look right.”

Putting aside the speaker’s imaginings of what the child could be doing with the ipad … Read more “The Deserving Poor”

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The Asian Fantasy of Charles Murray

After virtual silence in the mainstream media on the subject of Asian Americans during much of the campaign season, Asian American voters going 73% for Obama has gotten folks talking. Among the talkers is right wing racial theorist  Charles Murray, author of The Bell Curve and Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010. Regarding Asian Americans voting in such large numbers for President Obama, Murray argues:

My thesis is that the GOP is in trouble across the electoral board because it has become identified in the public mind with social conservatism. Large numbers of Independents and Democrats … Read more “The Asian Fantasy of Charles Murray”

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Not a Nation of Immigrants

It’s an often repeated mantra, that American is a “nation of immigrants.” Ever since the phrase was popularized by John F. Kennedy (who used it as the title of a New York Times editorial and a book), it has been used by those on the right and the left of the political spectrum, though with different goals in mind. On the left, the phrase is usually meant to subvert patriotism to the cause of immigrant rights. On the right, the notion is used to flatten out the rich textures of our diverse experiences of America, the wrinkles and creases … Read more “Not a Nation of Immigrants”

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Food Stamps Thanksgiving

I’ve gone on a rant about the short-sightedness of most criticism of programs like food stamps before. But, with Thanksgiving coming up it seemed to me appropriate to get back on my soap box.

About 45 million people in the U.S. receive food stamps. That’s about 14 percent of the American population. For 6 million Americans, food stamps is their only income. 55 percent of food stamp households include children. 14 percent include a disabled member. 9 percent include someone over the age of 60.  And if you don’t think this is a racial justice issue, a quarter of … Read more “Food Stamps Thanksgiving”

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The Obama Asian American Landslide

Last weekend on the Melissa Harris-Perry show on MSNBC, Wade Henderson the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund said the following regarding the presidential election:

I found the interesting statistic to be the Asian American vote. Because the Asian American community doesn’t have the homogeneity, the cohesion that people have talked about. You’re talking about South Asian, Vietnamese and others. The fact that they gave 73% of their vote to the Obama presidency tells you that it really is about policies and not about demographics alone. They are … Read more “The Obama Asian American Landslide”

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Red, Blue, Slave, Free

The maps above (originally from PolitiComments.com) were cut and pasted into this post from the new Changelab report, Left or Right of the Colorline? Asian Americans and the Racial Justice Movement. The first one describes the Red-Blue electoral breakdown in 2004, and the second indicates in tan and red those territories that were once open to slavery. The chilling correspondence between these two maps used to feel like our unchangeable political destiny.

Forget the political parties. Both sides have had their day as the party of white supremacy. What we should remember is that whichever side racially sensitive whites … Read more “Red, Blue, Slave, Free”

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The Original Construction and Intent

According to Webster,  conservative can be defined as: tending or disposed to maintain existing views, conditions, or institutions : traditional

I start with that definition because a few political colleagues have (gently) called me out for flipping back and forth between using the terms “conservative” and “right wing” to describe the faction of the right wing led by Republican, pro-corporate, anti-regulation, small government elites. They point to this faction’s participation in fomenting a backlash against civil rights laws and attacks on Roe v. Wade as indications that they’re radicals, not conservative; not “disposed to maintain[ing] existing views.”

I concede that … Read more “The Original Construction and Intent”