Merge Left

Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America

Ian Haney López

• Publisher: The New Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781620975657
• Edition: 0
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Political Advocacy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

From the acclaimed author of Dog Whistle Politics, an essential road map to neutralizing the role of racism as a divide-and-conquer political weapon and to building a broad multiracial progressive future

"Ian Haney López has broken the code on the racial politics of the last fifty years."—Bill Moyers

In 2014, Ian Haney López in Dog Whistle Politics named and explained the coded racial appeals exploited by right-wing politicians over the last half century—and thereby anticipated the 2016 presidential election. Now the country is heading into what will surely be one of the most consequential elections ever, with the Right gearing up to exploit racial fear-mongering to divide and distract, and the Left splintered over the next step forward. Some want to focus on racial justice head-on; others insist that a race-silent focus on class avoids alienating white voters.

Can either approach—race-forward or colorblind—build the progressive supermajorities necessary to break political gridlock and fundamentally change the country's direction?

For the past two years, Haney López has been collaborating with a research team of union activists, racial justice leaders, communications specialists, and pollsters. Based on conversations, interviews, and surveys with thousands of people all over the country, the team found a way forward.

By merging the fights for racial justice and for shared economic prosperity, they were able to build greater enthusiasm for both goals—and for the cross-racial solidarity needed to win elections. What does this mean? It means that neutralizing the Right's political strategy of racial division is possible, today. And that's the key to everything progressives want to achieve.

A work of deep research, nuanced argument, and urgent insight, Merge Left: Fusing Race and Class, Winning Elections, and Saving America is an indispensable tool for the upcoming political season and in the larger fight to build racial justice and shared economic prosperity for all of us.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction: Matt and Tom
• 1. Yes, It’s Still Dog Whistling. That’s a Good Thing Because the Alternative is Far Worse
• 2. Testing Racial Fear
• 3. The Right Consistently Links Race, Class, and Government
• 4. How the Right’s Core Narrative Shapes the Political Landscape: Base, Persuadables, and Opposition
• 5. Should the Left Lead with Racial Justice?
• 6. Can Democrats Build a Supermajority While Staying Silent About Racism?
• 7. When Economic Populists Talk About Racial Justice
• 8. The “Merge Right” Chapter, or How Trumpism Mines and Fuels Dangerous Trends Among Whites
• 9. The Race-Class Approach
• 10. 20/20 Vision: Comparing the Left’s Possible Responses to Anti-Immigrant Dog Whistling
• Afterword: Darkest Before the Dawn
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index
• About the Author
• Copyright