Racial Formation in the United States: From the 1960s to the 1990s

“We adopt the term ‘Mic Check,’ because we see our work as a call-out, a demand that new attention be paid to the deepening crisis of race and racism in the contemporary United States.”

In describing their book as a “call-out,” the authors insist it is not just meant to be a scholarly analysis of the history of race and racism in the United States: It is also intended to investigate and understand present-day politics and to possibly propose solutions for activists.

“The concept of race, developing unevenly in the Americas from the arrival of Europeans in the Western Hemisphere down to the present, has served as a fundamental organizing principle of the social system. Practices of distinguishing among human beings according to their corporeal characteristics became linked to systems of control, exploitation, and resistance.”

A central part of the authors’ argument is that race is socially constructed. In fact, the authors suggest that the history of the concept of race itself is intertwined with that of the United States and/or North America (245-46). The authors also define Race as a Master Category, one that set the template for other forms of discrimination and oppression.

“A cursory glance at American history reveals that far from being colorblind, the United States has always been an extremely race-conscious nation. From the very inception of the republic to the present moment, race has been a profound determinant of one’s political rights, one’s location in the labor market, and indeed one’s sense of identity.”

The authors emphasize that race has always been a central part of the history of the United States. Even though they argue that the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s was a major turning point, race and racism remain central to the American experience in the present day.