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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Fox’s “Cashin’ In” Cashes In on Japanese Internment

Yeah, you read that headline right. Over the weekend, Eric Bolling, the host of Fox News’ Cashin’ In went to Michelle Malkin-land and justified criminal profiling of Muslims based upon the notion that sending pretty near every Japanese American on the U.S. mainland (120,000+ people) and not a few in Hawai’i to prison camps in WWII contributed to the success of the U.S. war effort. According to Bolling, “we know how to find terrorists among us: profile, profile, profile.”

Doubling down on that sentiment, panelist Jonathan Hoenig said:

…Let’s take a trip down memory lane here: the last … Read more “Fox’s “Cashin’ In” Cashes In on Japanese Internment”

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The Prophet of Ferguson

…The truth is that this country does not know what to do with its black population now that the blacks are no longer a source of wealth, are no longer to be bought and sold and bred like cattle; and they especially do not know what to do with young black men…It is not accidental that the jails and the army and the needle claim so many, but there are still too many prancing about for the public comfort. Americans will, of course, deny, with horror, that they are dreaming of anything like “the final solution” – those Americans, that … Read more “The Prophet of Ferguson”

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Book Review: Giovanni’s Room

Then the door is before him. There is darkness all around him, there is silence in him. Then the door opens and he stands alone, the whole world falling away from him. And the brief corner of the sky seems to be shrieking, though he does not hear a sound. Then the earth tilts, he is thrown forward on his face in darkness, and his journey begins…

I was reminded of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room when it appeared on my favorite independent bookseller’s list of 25 Books to Read Before You Die. I’d read Giovanni’s Room years ago, along … Read more “Book Review: Giovanni’s Room”

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The Manipulation Factor: An Asian American Take on O’Reilly, Race, and Asian Americans

Yesterday, Bill O’Reilly took us from the No Spin Zone to the make-your-head-spin zone in his rant, “The Truth About White Privilege.” And what was O’Reilly’s “truth?” That white privilege is a myth, the proof of which lies in the experience of Asian Americans. Here’s the gist, according to O’Reilly:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for black Americans is 11.4 percent. It’s just over five percent for whites, 4.5 percent for Asians. So, do we have Asian privilege in America? Because the truth is, that Asian American households earn far more money than … Read more “The Manipulation Factor: An Asian American Take on O’Reilly, Race, and Asian Americans”

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Michael Brown, Ferguson, and the Logic of Slavery

The shocking situation evolving in Ferguson, MO has laid bare an ugly feature of American life: that the relationship of American society to Black people is founded upon the logic of slavery.

Now, I know many of you will roll your eyes at that assertion. I get it. Slavery was abolished over 150 years ago, before anyone now living was born. But turn on your TV. Go online and read what has already happened in Ferguson. If there is some other logic guiding these events, it certainly isn’t apparent. No, the guiding logic here is operating below the surface, informed … Read more “Michael Brown, Ferguson, and the Logic of Slavery”

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American History 2.0

The mainstream media had a heyday last week when Rep. Mo Brooks’ (R-AL) went on the radio with Laura Ingraham and declared that the Democratic Party is waging a “war on whites.” Brooks’ follow-up, “if you look at federal law, there’s only one skin color you can lawfully discriminate against. That’s Caucasions – whites…” added fuel to the fire.

Brooks’ comments are no doubt reprehensible. But, what is of real consequence to us is not that Brooks is a racist, there’s no surprise in learning elected representatives are racial conservatives, it is  that he is appealing to a … Read more “American History 2.0”

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Summer reads, and bell hooks Beyond Beyonce

This past July, I was a mentor (read old guy) at the Kopkind Colony, an educational summer residency program for independent progressive journalists and community organizers set on Tree Frog Farm, just outside of the rural mountain town of Guilford, Vermont. The camp is named for the pioneering radical journalist Andrew Kopkind, for whom Tree Frog Farm was a summer retreat.

Kopkind was one of the most talented journalists of his generation. I recommend reading The 30 Years War: Dispatches and Diversions of a Radical Journalist, 1965-94, a collection of some of his best writings. The 30 Years … Read more “Summer reads, and bell hooks Beyond Beyonce”

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Why I Support Marijuana Legalization, But Not as a Strategy for Winning Racial Justice

The recent spate of editorials in the New York Times promoting marijuana legalization has generated a lot of talk about federal action to end marijuana enforcement. The Times editorial board’s concern about this issue is summed up as follows,

The social costs of the marijuana laws are vast. There were 658,000 arrests for marijuana possession in 2012, according to F.B.I. figures, compared with 256,000 for cocaine, heroin and their derivatives. Even worse, the result is racist, falling disproportionately on young black men, ruining their lives and creating new generations of career criminals.

I agree, though that phrase “career criminals” … Read more “Why I Support Marijuana Legalization, But Not as a Strategy for Winning Racial Justice”

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On Yellow Face, Racial Parody, and White Denial

The fight over the Seattle Gilbert and Sullivan Society production of The Mikado, that just closed it’s summer run, has been noisy and contentious. So noisy and contentious that it earned a special segment on the MSNBC show, Melissa Harris-Perry, this past weekend.

What’s all the noise about? Yellow face. Yellow face refers to a form of racist caricature wherein non-Asian actors wear stereotypically Asian costumes and styles, and speak in ridiculous accents for laughs. Yellow face is the anti-Asian version of black face.

The controversy went wide when Seattle Times columnist Sharon Pian Chan went after the … Read more “On Yellow Face, Racial Parody, and White Denial”

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No Simple Answers to Achieving Racial Justice But One

I’ve been reading transcripts of six months worth of episodes of the Big Five Sunday political talk shows to wrap my mind around how these shows talk about people of color.

The excerpts on African Americans reveal some predictable trends. Among them, that one of the most popular “solutions” to intergenerational poverty in African American communities is education. And that’s too bad. Yeah, that’s what I said. I know that seems counter-intuitive, but bear with me.

On one episode of Face the Nation, James Peterson, Director of Africana Studies at Lehigh University, and Condoleeza Rice, who needs no introduction, I’m … Read more “No Simple Answers to Achieving Racial Justice But One”