Towards a Global Idea of Race

Behind this book is the desire to comprehend why and how, after a century of moral refutation of statements that deny it any role in modern existence, the most consistent effect of the racial seems to govern unchallenged the contemporary global configura- tion. I hope my critique of modern representation demonstrates that the political force of the racial resides in the fact that it consistently (re)produces the founding modern ontological statement. Each de- ployment of the racial consistently articulates man's unique attribute, self-determination, as each brings into existence, and disavows, that which signifies “other”-wise, announcing its necessary elimination. Because the prevailing account of racial subjection also follows this ontological mandate, it is not surprising that today it is deployed to explain away the violent deaths of people of color, as endless social scientific evidence renders them not only expected (as the outcome of juridical and economic exclusion) but also justified (as the forecasted end of the trajectory of an outer-determined consciousness). I hear the question, How does social scientific knowledge justify the mur- der of people of color? My reply is, How does its arsenal explain it?