Still Laundering Black Rage: DEI as Counterinsurgency

Jun 19, 2025

Too Black, a poet, scholar, and organizer known for hosting the Black Myths Podcast, discusses the pitfalls of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. He argues that DEI often launders genuine Black rage into superficial reforms that fail to challenge systemic oppression. The conversation delves into the historical roots of DEI, its co-optation by capitalist interests, and the backlash against it. Too Black also highlights the need for meaningful action beyond tokenism and critiques the failures of Black leadership in addressing community needs.

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INSIGHT

Concept of Laundering Black Rage

Laundering Black Rage means converting threatening Black rage into capital assets that benefit the ruling class.
This process disguises oppression's brutality as market-friendly symbolic victories without meaningful justice.

INSIGHT

Backlash Without Gains

Post-2020 backlash against DEI is not a response to real progress but to perceived symbolic gains.
Police killings and economic conditions for Black people have worsened despite DEI initiatives' expansion.

INSIGHT

DEI and Backlash Stabilize Capitalism

DEI and its backlash mutually reinforce capitalist stability without challenging systemic oppression.
Both sides create a political spectacle that distracts from real material change and demobilizes real resistance.

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In this incisive conversation, Breht welcomes poet, scholar, and organizer, filmmaker, and host of the Black Myths Podcast Too Black back to the podcast to critically examine the recent attacks on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Anchored by the penetrating analysis in Too Black and Rasul Mowatt’s article, "Bootleg Rehab: Still Laundering Black Rage," this episode dissects DEI as a capitalist pacification strategy, historically rooted in reaction to radical Black movements and inherently limited in delivering meaningful change.

Too Black articulates how DEI serves capitalist interests by redirecting genuine Black rage into symbolic, surface-level victories that do little to alter the underlying structures of oppression. Together, they explore DEI’s historical development, its market-friendly evolution under Nixon, and its role in creating internal class contradictions within oppressed communities.

Through the powerful analogy of a "bootleg rehab," Too Black vividly illustrates how superficial reforms pacify demands for revolutionary change without addressing systemic injustices like police violence, economic deprivation, and racialized exploitation. They also unpack the dialectical relationship between DEI initiatives and reactionary anti-DEI backlash, showing how both reinforce capitalist stability and deepen racial and class divides.

Finally, Too Black outlines practical approaches for organizers to bypass capitalist traps, emphasizing the need for movements grounded in materialist analysis and authentic community needs. This essential discussion equips listeners with critical insights to recognize, resist, and transcend the limitations of DEI, advancing a revolutionary politics that refuses to settle for symbolic concessions in the face of real suffering. Check out Black Myths Podcast HERE

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