Roberto R. Aspholm is an assistant professor of social work at the University of St. Thomas and the author of Views from the Streets: The Transformation of Gangs and Violence on Chicago’s South Side.
In 2013, a movement of working-class New Jerseyans halted Cory Booker’s plans to privatize Newark public schools. A new book shows how a group of neoliberals co-opted this victory, securing consent for school charterization under the banner of anti-racism.
It’s now widely understood that black Americans have been disproportionately hit by the coronavirus. But though mainstream commentators are willing to recognize this basic disparity, and the role of racism, they perpetually obscure the question of class.