Linking race, the value of land and the value of life

Abstract

This article works to more fully integrate critical theories of race and privilege with political economy to explore the connections between segregation, property values and violence in U.S. cities. Through the prism of Los Angeles, it exposes the economic mechanisms and history of violent struggle by which whiteness became, and remains, an intrinsic component of high land values. The resulting articulations of racial ideologies and geography, connecting circuits of real estate capital to common sense and racialised constructions of 'community', have helped drive L.A.'s fragmented and unsustainable form and increasing privitisation. They also lie at the root of violence inflicted upon those excluded, both ideologically and physically, from white constructions of community. This dynamic is key for theorising in support of ongoing justice struggles to create safe and sustainable cities for all.

The urban process under racial capitalism: Race, anti-Blackness, and capital accumulation

“…However, such theorizing rests its conceptualizations on a class-based perspective reflecting a colorblind ideology that rests upon a race-neutral understanding of the urban process. Capitalist logics are often argued to contain no intrinsic reason why race should play any role in efforts to generate profits through the commodification of land (Gibbons, 2016). Yet, the United States, among other countries, has a long history where race and class have and continue to structure social divisions for the sake of capital accumulation.…”

“…Through the lens of racial capitalism, I argue that value is being derived from both people and places. Gibbons (2016) argues that White supremacy has been built into definitions of U.S. land values and how this has been articulated with the formation of the city and ideas of community and belonging. Moreover, Bhandar (2018) notes that property laws in settler colonies have been critical instruments for colonial accumulation of capital that develop in conjunction with the formation of racial subjects.…”

“…Simultaneously, race scholars have continued to theorize how race and racism are influencing economic and social structures within cities and regions. However, few have seriously contended with how race structures the urban form (e.g., Dorries et al, 2019;Gibbons, 2016;Hackworth, 2019;Rothstein, 2017;K. Y. Taylor, 2019).…”

“…This is not to say that scholars have never contended with questions around political economy, racialization processes, and urbanization. Specifically, work within urban geography and Black Studies has illuminated the anti-Blackness of global capital , property values and racialized violence (Gibbons, 2016), and the production of settler colonial cities (Dorries et al, 2019). Yet, such exemplary work has largely focused on particular techniques (e.g., property relations, capital accumulation, settler colonialism) through empirical contexts.…”

Property as technology

“…This focus also draws upon work of numerous urban geographers and critical race theorists who have long made the argument that race is co-constitute of space (Brahinsky 2020;Byrd et al 2018;Gibbons 2016;Gilmore 2002;Harris 1993;Lipsitz 2006;Pulido 2000;Ramírez 2019;Roy 2017). 1 In particular, I am invested in thinking through what Adam Blesdoe and Willie Jamaal Wright describe as anti-Blackness being 'a necessary precondition for the perpetuation of capitalism ' (2019, 8).…”