by Nedric Miller, LSPC Senior Policy Fellow
For many of us within the movement fighting for justice and accountability from the powers that be, whether through grassroots organizing or policy, a recent trend has become visible. It operates with the same intent for harm that was prevalent in the 1950s, a time that weaponized racial anxieties to justify criminalization of non‑white communities and anything else that “differed” from the white-picket-fence nuclear family ideal. This trend is subtly reinforcing and strengthening policing and incarceration, undoing much of the progress pursued by impacted communities governed by action and dedicated to change.
New policies, like Prop 36 in California, tap into old fears about demographic change and social progress, rousing anxieties that have long been used to justify unequal treatment. It looks different now, though: For example, instead of segregation laws, we see aggressive policing in certain neighborhoods, harsh immigration crackdowns, restrictions on voting access, and public‑benefit rules that disproportionately affect marginalized groups.
These policies may not use the language of race directly, but their impact often mirrors the inequalities of the past. The result is a political climate where discrimination operates quietly in the background, insidiously woven into institutions and systems rather than shouted from the steps of a courthouse.
Propaganda and conformist media are helping to narrate a political environment where subtle forms of racism are being used as mechanisms to slowly destroy families and communities. Institutional reluctance, language, and policy priorities can function with the same impact as the overt discrimination of earlier decades.
Although today’s expressions are often more coded, they operate through similar mechanisms with appeals to “law and order,” narratives of cultural threat, and political strategies that frame marginalized groups as dangers to national stability.
Understanding these patterns doesn’t mean giving up hope; it means recognizing the work that needs to be taken on with unbridled ambition that mimics the same resilience as our ancestors.
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