Tournament: Valley - Mid America Cup | Round: 3 | Opponent: Scarsdale JT | Judge: TJ Maher
Academic philosophy is anti-Black – the 1AC’s abstraction from the material consequences of racialized violence absolves white philosophers of their contributions to America’s apathy towards Black death – their race-neutral rhetoric and assertion of universal humanistic principles reduces systemic racism to a problem of recognition that prevents effective mobilization against white supremacy – vote negative to reject the Western metaphysical tradition and recognize the permanent failure of white philosophy.
Tommy J. Curry and Curry 18 Tommy, PhD, Prof. of Philosophy @ TAMU, Gwenetta, PhD, Ass. Prof. of Gender and Race Studies @ Alabama, “On the Perils of Race Neutrality and Anti-Blackness: Philosophy as an Irreconcilable Obstacle to (Black) Thought,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 77, Nos. 3-4 (May-September 2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12244
We begin with...philosophy before us.
Even if they win that their colorblindness is theoretically ideal, it is practically impossible because racialized bodies are marked by their skin color – the psychological construction of Black as inferior makes their impacts inevitable – philosophy’s segregation of black scholarship is not neutral and not normal.
Tommy J. Curry and Curry 18 Tommy, PhD, Prof. of Philosophy @ TAMU, Gwenetta, PhD, Ass. Prof. of Gender and Race Studies @ Alabama, “On the Perils of Race Neutrality and Anti-Blackness: Philosophy as an Irreconcilable Obstacle to (Black) Thought,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 77, Nos. 3-4 (May-September 2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12244
Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (2010: 15) explains...philosophy operates similarly.
Racism deems Black life disposable and demands racialized violence – we’re not an ad-hom that criticizes the positionality or personal views of their authors – their philosophy is actively used as an expression of white supremacy and to rationalize the deaths of Black men and women.
Tommy J. Curry and Curry 18 Tommy, PhD, Prof. of Philosophy @ TAMU, Gwenetta, PhD, Ass. Prof. of Gender and Race Studies @ Alabama, “On the Perils of Race Neutrality and Anti-Blackness: Philosophy as an Irreconcilable Obstacle to (Black) Thought,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 77, Nos. 3-4 (May-September 2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12244
Far too often...more worthwhile topics.
This turns the aff – America is organized around the subjugation and death of non-white people – discriminatory applications of their policy are inevitable absent a recognition of racialization in the law – their colorblindness is mutually exclusive with the necessary upheaval of the racial dynamics that necessitate inequality.
Tommy J. and Gwenetta Curry and Curry 18 Tommy, PhD, Prof. of Philosophy @ TAMU, Gwenetta, PhD, Ass. Prof. of Gender and Race Studies @ Alabama, “On the Perils of Race Neutrality and Anti-Blackness: Philosophy as an Irreconcilable Obstacle to (Black) Thought,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 77, Nos. 3-4 (May-September 2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12244
It is now...and elevate whites.
Instead you should affirm Black philosophy as a site to engage in radical theorizations that are a genuine reflection of Black experience – attempts at integration commodifies Black philosophers as extensions of white thinkers which waters down Black philosophy to a form for white philosophers to deem respectable scholarship – a fundamental reorientation of the discipline away from universal reason is key.
Tommy J. Curry and Curry 18 Tommy, PhD, Prof. of Philosophy @ TAMU, Gwenetta, PhD, Ass. Prof. of Gender and Race Studies @ Alabama, “On the Perils of Race Neutrality and Anti-Blackness: Philosophy as an Irreconcilable Obstacle to (Black) Thought,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Vol. 77, Nos. 3-4 (May-September 2018). DOI: 10.1111/ajes.12244
The debate about...Black philosophical project.