The Problem With White Leftists Nobody Wants to Discuss

Summary

Researcher and data scientist Joshua Doss argues that economic insecurity in the United States is widespread and that capitalism and racism are intertwined. He opens with the statistic that 67% of Americans fear running out of money more than death, framing it as evidence that basic survival has become unaffordable for many people.

Drawing on his work in public-opinion research, Doss recounts a focus group in Georgia that included Leroy Johnson, a white man mistakenly placed in a group of Black men. Although they initially differed in their language and experiences, they connected over the effects of corporate power, economic rules that favor the wealthy, and the feeling that workers are used up and discarded. Doss presents the encounter as an example of how shared economic hardship can create a basis for solidarity.

But he stresses that shared hardship does not make the history or effects of racism interchangeable. He argues that American capitalism was built through the exploitation of Black labor and continued to restrict Black workers’ opportunities and security after slavery. As an example of how racial exploitation can spread, he points to the 2008 housing crisis: predatory mortgage lending disproportionately targeted Black and Latino communities, and the financial practices that proved profitable there later contributed to broader losses, including among white working-class families.

Doss’s central critique is that some white leftists recognize class inequality but hesitate to confront race as a foundational part of it. He says that framing the issue as “class, not race” risks repeating a pattern of erasing anti-Blackness from accounts of economic inequality. He also argues that whiteness has functioned as a psychological promise to white workers: that they will receive more security, dignity, and opportunity than Black people. When economic reality breaks that promise, the resulting grievance can be redirected toward neighbors and exploited by right-wing politicians rather than aimed at the systems that produced the hardship.

Doss concludes that solidarity requires facing this history directly. In his view, anti-capitalism must begin with anti-racism: a movement that cannot name anti-Blackness cannot dismantle American capitalism. Genuine coalition, he argues, must be grounded in shared memory, honesty, humility, and recognition of the specific harms that shaped the system.

People Referenced

• Joshua Doss: Presenter
• Terren Woodbury: Doss’s research mentor
• Leroy Johnson: Focus-group participant
• Doss’s grandmother: Unnamed