ReRooted – Ep. 42 w/ Ian Haney López: Dog Whistle Racism

Ian Haney López joins Francesca to discuss how dog whistle politics and media perpetuate the socially constructed, hierarchical story of racial identity. Ian Haney López is a law professor who specializes in race and racism. The Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Public Law at the UC, Berkeley, Ian’s focus has been on the use of racism in electoral politics. From writing, to public polling and message testing, to accessible videos, Ian develops and promotes a race-class praxis. His books White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race and Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class showcase how powerful elites exploit social divisions, imploring that no matter our race, color, or ethnicity, our best future requires building cross-racial solidarity. Discover more at https://ianhaneylopez.com/ Race is Not Destiny Prompted by Francesca, Ian shares about his upbringing in Hawaii, being raised by a mixed race couple. Growing up with this unique vantage point from the cultural melting pot of the Island, sparked an inquiry into race relations inside of Ian, a query that would deepen as he traveled to college in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the most starkly segregated areas in the States. Sharing stories of realizing both the overt and implicit racism in society, Francesca and Ian elucidate race as a social construct, rather than a fixed trait. “Race isn’t something that’s fixed in us. Race is a social practice. It’s a set of understandings. It’s something that circulates in the culture, but it’s something that is interpreted and imposed by different actors, at different times, in different ways.” – Ian Haney López The Powerful Story of Race (8:12) Diving into themes within Ian’s book, White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race, Francesca and Ian explore how race was created as a social construct, and is being upheld by our prevailing systems. Highlighting that race is not real as a biology, but is undeniably real as a set of social practices, they elucidate the