Race-ing Against the Anthropocene: Racial Capitalism, Climate Crisis, and New Afrikan Abolition Ecology

• In Event: Black Political Philosophy and Ecological Justice

Description for Program

My paper critiques the often rigid distinction made between ecological and racial justice issues, highlighting their shared roots in various forms of oppression, including colonial, racial, economic, gendered, and social factors. It addresses the detrimental effects of mainstream environmentalism, predominantly led by white advocates, which has historically marginalized Black communities by focusing primarily on preserving wild spaces and species while neglecting urban ecological environments. Despite Black community organizations leading the charge in the environmental justice movement, their efforts have largely centered on liberal policy reforms and property rights within the framework of U.S. racial capitalism and imperialism. Moreover, contemporary Black abolitionist discourses elide ecological concerns for “more immediate” racial justice issues involving police terrorism, white supremacist violence, and carcerality. The Anthropocenic climate crisis has emerged as a critical anti-capitalist and racial justice issue, disproportionately affecting Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities throughout history, and this impact is expected to escalate in the future. Consequently, my paper advocates for developing a New Afrikan abolition ecology that broadens the understanding of abolition—primarily applied to police, prisons, and the carceral system—into an ecological context. I argue that New Afrikan abolition ecology, as articulated by groups such as the Republic of New Afrika, MOVE, Cooperation Jackson, the Autonomous Research Institute for Direct Democracy and Social Ecology, and other Black liberation organizations, offers a holistic and revolutionary strategy to confront the climate crisis in the context of dismantling racial capitalism, settler colonialism, and imperialism.

Author

• Anthony Ratcliff