On the Possibilities (and Pitfalls) of ‘Black Populism'

• In Event: Exploring Democratic Mobilizations Against Right-Wing Populism: Tapping, Historical, Contemporary and Global Reservoirs of Opposition Mini-Conference: Racializing Populist Subjectivity

Abstract

Over the past several years we've seen an upsurge in black political protest, largely waged against police brutality. While many view this upsurge as suggesting significant progressive possibilities for black politics, few have articulated this upsurge in explicitly populist terms, largely because of the way "populism" has been traditionally understood. In this paper I use the historical example of late 19th century black populism to both reimagine populism, but as important to think through the potential pitfalls of this current black populist moment.

Author

• Lester Kenyatta Spence, Johns Hopkins University