Racial capitalism and anti-Blackness beyond the urban core

ABSTRACT

In this brief essay, I respond to Henry-Louis Taylor Jr.’s “The urban process and city building under racial capitalism.” First, I discuss the limits of situating the urban process as one squarely focused on city-building. Although a salient feature of the urban process, the urban here relates to processes of geographically expansive racialized urbanization versus one solely focused on Black marginality within cities. Second, I expand upon this distinction by underscoring how anti-Blackness extends beyond the urban core. Lastly, I offer a brief contrast between the thematic concepts of dispossession versus displacement used within our complementary frameworks. I end with a few remarks regarding the differences presented here as they relate to ongoing and future resistance efforts, arguing that anti-Blackness has always been confronted with Black people making space and place.

KEYWORDS:

• Racial capitalism
• urbanization
• displacement
• resistance

This article responds to:

The urban process and city building under racial capitalism: Reflections on Prentiss A. Dantzler’s “The urban process under racial capitalism: Race, anti-Blackness, and capital accumulation”

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Prentiss A. Dantzler

Prentiss A. Dantzler is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Faculty Advisor to the School of Cities at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on housing policy, neighborhood change, and residential mobility with a particular focus on urban poverty, social welfare policies, race and ethnic relations, and community development. Prentiss received his PhD in Public Affairs with a concentration in Community Development from Rutgers University-Camden. He also holds an MPA from West Chester University and a BS from Penn State University.