Aug 4, 2026
How do we recognize racism? How do we measure it? And what happens when the way we define a problem makes it harder to solve?
Today's guest argues that the frameworks we have used to understand racism for decades may be limiting our ability to effectively confront it.
Ainsley LeSure is the author of Locating Racism In The World, a provocative examination of how society talks about racism after the Civil Rights era—and why those conversations may have unintentionally weakened our ability to identify and challenge racial inequality.
LeSure argues that by focusing primarily on racism as an internal belief system—something located in individual thoughts, feelings, or intentions—we have created a situation where people can deny racist behavior by denying racist intent. She offers a different framework centered on what she calls racial common sense: the everyday assumptions and ideas about racially marginalized groups that circulate through society and influence interactions, institutions, and political movements.
Today we'll discuss how racism is understood, why language and frameworks matter, the relationship between everyday behavior and larger political movements, and what a more effective approach to confronting racism might look like.