Harsha Walia, Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and Racist Nationalism [copy of ebook] OR Haymarket Books, Author Discussion on Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and Racist Nationalism
Coalition of Immokalee Workers, Slavery in the Fields and The Food We Eat
Paul Ortiz, The Forgotten Essential Workers of America: The Latinx Working Class Up Against Racial Capitalism
Nancy Fraser, Expropriation and Exploitation in Racialized Capitalism: A Reply to Michael Dawson
Ronald L. Mize & Alicia C. S. Swards, Consuming Mexican Labor: From the Bracero Program to NAFTA
Tendayi Achiume, Report of the Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racial Intolerance OR United Nations, UN Human Rights Expert Calls on States to Make Reparations for Colonialism and Slavery
Nick Estes, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and Christopher Loperena, United in Struggle: As Racial Capitalism Rages, Movements for Indigenous Sovereignty and Abolition Offer Visions of Freedom on Stolen Land
Emily Mitchell-Eaton, New Destinations of Empire: Imperial Migration from the Marshall: Islands to Northwest Arkansas
Sherally Munshi, Immigration, Imperialism, and the Legacies of Indian Exclusion OR Sherally Munshi, Immigration and the Imperial (in The Oxford Handbook of Law and Humanities)
Todd Miller, Empire of Borders: The Expansion of the US Border around the World OR Todd Miller, Storming the Wall
Cedric Robinson, Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition
Precarity and Belonging: Labor, Migration, and Noncitizenship, edited by Steven C McKay, Catherine S. Ramírez, Sylvanna M. Falcón & Juan Poblete.
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans
Lindsey Lusher Shute and Hannah Beal, Braceros: The Controversial History of US-Mexico Farm Worker Programs With Dr. Matthew Garcia
Undeterred (documentary about community resistance in the rural border town of Arivaca, Arizona)
Abolish Everything, Week 4: Racial Capitalism
Freedom for Immigrants, The Immigration Detention Syllabus
As you engage with the materials, we encourage you to reflect on the materials in whatever way you process—whether through provocations, questions, or discussions.
To facilitate discussion, we invite you to join us for a panel discussion with scholars and community members on this topic to reflect together and find different ways to challenge our understanding. More information on the panel is available under Scholar Series. We also welcome your own reflections and questions through our reflection form.
If you are looking for asynchronous reflection, we offer the following questions to guide your reflection:
Who or what has informed and shaped your understanding of capitalism? Is there is a difference between racial capitalism and capitalism?
In what ways did the readings/videos/podcasts challenge your current understanding of the manifestations of racial capitalism, particularly within immigration?
Think about the intersections between labor rights and immigrant rights. What should redress and reparations look like particularly for exploitation and expropriation?
What does dismantling capitalist regimes mean to you? What does it require from you, and what are you willing to commit to?
Option 1: Develop a monthly plan outlining how you will commit to learning more about the history of the land you occupy, building relationships with Indigenous peoples, and paying land taxes for your occupation.
Option 2: Critically reflect on your personal acts of consumerism and how to reimagine this participation outside of the Bezos empire. Based on where you are likely to spend your money, create your personal list of alternatives that support local and/or small businesses. Share your results through this form to create a collaborative, community-sourced guide that we will share with everyone. All results entered will be anonymous.
Option 3: Donate time, skills, and/or money to grassroots initiatives such as Citizenship Now, Boycott Wendy's, Fightfor$15, DC Universal Basic Income, or strikes initiated by food workers across the nation; invest in mutual aid networks such as DC Mutual Aid Network or Indigenous Mutual Aid Groups; and/or support artists such as Elias Vargas and immigrant artists featured in the "Reflections on Home" exhibit. A comprehensive database on local mutual aid networks across the nation is available here.
Option 4: Create a weekly or monthly donation plan based on your income and generational wealth to redistribute your wealth. Use this master list to identify organizations, networks, and funds you plan to commit to.