The second point that Berg makes is that the NAACP and the communist party in the United States were not born bedfellows. The NAACP focused almost exclusively on race even though class and race were linked issues. The main reason why the NAACP did not align itself with the mainstream labor movement was that big labor was besieged by "notorious racism" (78). As a result, the NAACP downplayed class conflict and played up race relations. Alliances with some labor organizations like the CIO helped boost awareness of the link between class and racial oppression. Pre-World War Two NAACP was more socialist in tone than the post-World War Two NAACP. W.E.B. DuBois noted the connection between oppression of African-Americans and the oppression of all workers worldwide. This extension of the Civil Rights agenda did not last long, especially after the Cold War and the red scare demanded a different approach from the NAACP.
Berg's third main argument in "Black Civil Rights and Liberal Anticommunism" is that the Cold War created an ideological rift within the NAACP; this ideological rift damaged the organization's effectiveness even though it prevented the group from being targeted by McCarthyists. The decision to champion the liberal anticommunist cause was a strategic one. NAACP leaders like Walter White saw the potential in wooing centrists like Harry Truman. White and his supporters believed that the NAACP would play its cards better by focusing exclusively on domestic rather than international oppression. W.E.B. DuBois disagreed, noting in Appeal to the World that the federal...
10. Colorblindness will not end racism. Pretending race doesn't exist is not the same as creating equality. Race is more than stereotypes and individual prejudice. To combat racism, we need to identify and remedy social policies that advantage some groups at the expense of others. To be able to eliminate the racism, we do not have to eliminate the concept of race. This is not a solution; this will only hide
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