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Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific . Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate actions which are intended to create equal opportunities for all people on both an individual and a systemic level. As a philosophy, it can be engaged in by the acknowledgment of personal privileges, confronting acts as well as systems of racial discrimination and/or working to change personal racial biases. Major contemporary anti-racism efforts include the Black Lives Matter movement and workplace anti-racism.
In December 1511, Antonio de Montesinos, a Dominican friar, was the first European to rebuke openly the Spanish authorities and administrators of Hispaniola for their "cruelty and tyranny" in dealing with the American natives and those forced to labor as slaves. (1992). 9780140445626, Penguin Group. ISBN 9780140445626 King Ferdinand enacted the Laws of Burgos and Valladolid in response. Enforcement was lax, and the New Laws of 1542 have to be made to take a stronger line. Because some people like Fray Bartolomé de las Casas questioned not only the Crown but the Papacy at the Valladolid Controversy whether the Indigenous were truly men who deserved baptism, Pope Paul III in the papal bull Veritas Ipsa or Sublimis Deus (1537) confirmed that the Indigenous and other races are fully rational human beings who have rights to freedom and private property, even if they are heathen. (2025). 9780813538990, Rutgers University Press. ISBN 9780813538990 (2025). 9780802828897, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 9780802828897 Afterward, their Christian conversion effort gained momentum along social rights, while leaving the same status recognition unanswered for Africans of Black Race, and legal social racism prevailed towards the Indians or Asians. By then, the last schism of the Reformation had taken place in Europe in those few decades along political lines, and the different views on the value of human lives of different races were not corrected in the lands of Northern Europe, which would join the Colonial race at the end of the century and over the next, as the Portuguese and Spanish Empires waned. It would take another century, with the influence of the French Empire at its height, and its consequent Enlightenment developed at the highest circles of its Court, to return these previously inconclusive issues to the forefront of the political discourse championed by many intellectual men since Rousseau. These issues gradually permeated to the lower social levels, where they were a reality lived by men and women of different races from the European racial majority.
During and after the American Revolution, Quaker ministrations and preachings against slavery began to spread beyond their denomination. In 1783, 300 Quakers, chiefly from London, presented the British Parliament with a petition against the Britain's involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1785, English abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, studying at Cambridge, and in the course of writing an essay in Latin ( Anne liceat invitos in servitutem dare (Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting?), read the works of Benezet, and began a lifelong effort to abolish the British slave trade. In 1787, British abolitionists formed the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, a small nondenominational group that could lobby more successfully by incorporating Anglicans, who, unlike the Quakers, could lawfully sit in Parliament. The twelve founding members included nine Quakers and three pioneering Anglicans: Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, and William Wilberforce – all evangelical Christians.
Due to resistance in the Southern United States and a general collapse of idealism in the North, Reconstruction ended, giving way to the nadir of American race relations. The period from about 1890 to 1920 saw the re-establishment of Jim Crow laws. President Woodrow Wilson, who regarded Reconstruction as a disaster, segregated the federal government. The Ku Klux Klan grew to its greatest peak of popularity and strength; the success of D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation played a major part in this member increase.
In 1911 the First Universal Races Congress met in London, at which distinguished speakers from many countries for four days discussed race problems and ways to improve interracial relations.
The Russian Revolution was perceived as a rupture with imperialism for various civil rights and decolonization struggles and providing a space for oppressed groups across the world. This was given further credence with the Soviet Union supporting many anti-colonial third world movements with financial funds against European colonialism powers.
In his work, The Socialist Revolution and the Rights of Nation to Self-Determinism, Vladimir Lenin wrote that socialism would enforce the complete equality of all nations and "give effect to the right of oppressed nations to self-determination". Lenin would make anti-imperialism a tenet of Marxist ideology and coordinate revolutions through the Comintern.
Marxist theorist Leon Trotsky had advocated for national self-determination for the black population in South Africa. In response to the programmatic document of the South African Left Opposition, he wrote in 1935:
"We must accept decisively and without any reservation the complete and unconditional right of the blacks to independence. Only on the basis of a mutual struggle against the domination of the white exploiters can the solidarity of black and white toilers be cultivated and strengthened".
Through the 1930s, the first viable black trade unions in Transvaal, South Africa were established by Trotskyists. (1992). 9780748603176, Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 9780748603176
Modern left-wing commentators have argued that capitalism promotes racism alongside culture wars over issues such as immigration and representation of ethnic minorities whilst refusing to address economic inequalities.
Socialist groups have also been closely aligned with a number of anti-racist organizations such as Love Music Hate Racism, Stand Up to Racism, Anti-Nazi League and Unite Against Fascism.
A number of socialist activists and organisations have linked reparations for slavery and colonisation with a wider set of anti-capitalist demands to reconfigure the world economy. In this view, a transition to a world socialist economy would redress reparations and upskill the quality of education, healthcare and living standards of marginalised communities and working classes.
German ethnographer Adolf Bastian promoted the idea known as "psychic unity of mankind", the belief in a universal mental framework present in all humans regardless of race. Rudolf Virchow, an early biological anthropologist criticized Ernst Haeckel's classification of humanity into "higher and lower races". The two authors influenced American anthropologist Franz Boas who promoted the idea that differences in behavior between human populations are purely cultural rather than determined by biological differences. Later anthropologists like Marcel Mauss, Bronisław Malinowski, Pierre Clastres, and Claude Lévi-Strauss continued to focus on culture and reject racial models of differences in human behavior.
The Jena Declaration, published by the German Zoological Society, rejects the idea of human "races" and distances itself from the racial theories of Ernst Haeckel and other 20th century scientists. It claims that genetic variation between World population is smaller than within them, demonstrating that the biological concept of "races" is invalid. The statement highlights that there are no specific or that match with conventional racial . It also indicates that the idea of "races" is based on racism rather than any Science factuality.
The equality of nations being a basic principle of the League of Nations, the High Contracting Parties agree to accord, as soon as possible, to all alien nationals of States Members of the League equal and just treatment in every respect, making no distinction, either in law or in fact, on account of their race or nationality.After Makino's speech, Lord Cecil stated that the Japanese proposal was a very controversial one and he suggested that perhaps the matter was so controversial that it should not be discussed at all. Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos also suggested that a clause banning religious discrimination should also be removed since that was also a very controversial matter. That led to objections from a Portugal diplomat, who stated that his country had never signed a treaty before that did not mention God, which caused Cecil to remark perhaps this time, they would all just have to a take a chance of avoiding the wrath of the Almighty by not mentioning Him.
Australian Prime Minister Billy Hughes clarified his opposition and announced at a meeting that "ninety-five out of one hundred Australians rejected the very idea of equality. Hughes had entered politics as a trade unionist and, like most others in the working class, was very strongly opposed to Asian immigration to Australia. (The exclusion of Asian immigration was a popular cause with unions in Canada, the US, Australia, and New Zealand in the early 20th century.)
The Chinese delegation, which was otherwise at daggers drawn with the Japanese over the question of the former German colony of Qingdao and the rest of the German concessions in Shandong Province, also said that it would support the clause. One contemporary Chinese diplomat said the Shandong question was far more important to his government than the clause. British Prime Minister David Lloyd George found himself in an awkward situation since Britain had signed an alliance with Japan in 1902, but he also wanted to hold the British Empire's delegation together.
Although the proposal received a majority (11 out of 16) of votes, the proposal was still problematic for the segregationist US President Woodrow Wilson, who needed the votes of segregationist Southern Democrats to succeed in getting the votes needed for the US Senate to ratify the treaty. Strong opposition from the British Empire delegation gave him a pretext to reject the proposal. Hughes and Joseph Cook vigorously opposed it as it undermined the White Australia policy.
In the 1940s Springfield, Massachusetts, invoked The Springfield Plan to include all persons in the community.
Beginning with the Harlem Renaissance and continuing into the 1960s, many African-American writers argued forcefully against racism.
During the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow laws were repealed in the South and blacks finally re-won the right to vote in Southern states. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was an influential force, and his "I Have a Dream" speech is a condensation of his egalitarian ideology.
Proponents of anti-racism claim that can lead to many negative consequences in a work environment, learning environment, and to their overall sense of self-worth. Anti-racism work aims to combat microaggressions and help to break systemic racism by focusing on actions against discrimination and oppression. Standing up against discrimination can be an overwhelming task for people of color who have been previously targeted. Anti-racists claim that microinterventions can be a tool used to act against racial discrimination.
Microintervention strategies aim to provide the tools needed to confront and educate racial oppressors. Specific tactics include: revealing the hidden biases or agendas behind acts of discrimination, interrupting and challenging oppressive language, educating offenders, and connecting with other allies and community members to act against discrimination. The theory is that these microinterventions allow the oppressor to see the impact of their words, and provide a space for an educational dialogue about how their actions can oppress people marginalized groups.
Microaggressions can be conscious acts where the perpetrator is aware of the offense they are causing, or hidden and metacommunicated without the perpetrator's awareness. Regardless of whether microaggressions are conscious or unconscious behaviors, the first anti-racist intervention is to name the ways it is harmful for a person of color. Calling out an act of discrimination can be empowering because it provides language for people of color to bring awareness to their lived experiences and justifies internal feelings of discrimination.
Anti-racist strategies also include confronting the racial microaggression by outwardly challenging and disagreeing against the microaggression that harms a person of color. Microinterventions such as a verbal expression of "I don't want to hear that talk" and physical movements of disapproval are ways to confront microaggressions. Microinterventions are not used to attack others about their biases, but instead they are used to allow the space for an educational dialogue. Educating a perpetrator on their biases can open up a discussion about how the intention of a comment or action can have a damaging impact. For example, phrases such as "I know you meant that joke to be funny, but that stereotype really hurt me" can educate a person on the difference between what was intended and how it is harmful to a person of color. Anti-racist micro intervention strategies give the tools for people of color, white allies, and bystanders to combat against microaggressions and acts of discrimination.
Another strategy involves fostering an inclusive environment by consistently promoting cultural safety, cultural humility, and narrative humility. Cultural safety encourages individuals to examine their own identities and attitudes, creating spaces that are emotionally, socially, and physically safe for everyone while affirming the unique identities and needs of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. Cultural humility complements this by emphasizing self-reflection, co-learning, and collaboration with community members, underscoring the value of shared growth. Narrative humility further enhances this approach by encouraging individuals to listen attentively to others' stories, reflect on their roles within those narratives, and remain open to perspectives that challenge their own. Together, these approaches work to dismantle systemic inequities and cultivate environments grounded in respect, shared understanding, and active participation.
Cultural critic Fredrik deBoer placed blame on "idea-generating" individuals and institutions for the perceived failures of BLM as a social movement. 'How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement' Review: Left Against Itself - The Wall Street Journal
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