In response to the outright dismissal and fear of entire populations in red states by many of my classmates, I refer you to what Townes Van Zandt once wrote: “Racism is a worldwide problem, and it’s been like that since the beginning of recorded history and it ain’t just white and black, but it’s always a little more convenient to play it with a Southern accent.”

“Racism took shape [in the 19th century]: it was then that a whole politics of settlement, family, marriage, education, social hierarchization, and property, accompanied by a long series of permanent interventions at the level of the body, conduct, health, and everyday life, received their color and their justification from the mythical concern with protecting the purity of the blood and ensuring the triumph of the race.” (foucault, history of sexuality, vol. 1. 1976 p.149)

“We cannot presume the enclosed and well-fed space of the polis, where all the material needs are somehow being taken care of elsewhere by beings whose gender, race, or status render them ineligible for public recognition. Rather, we have not only to bring the material urgencies of the body into the square, but to make those needs central to the demands of politics.” (butler, notes toward a performative theory of assembly. 2015 p.96)