Bounding Into Sports

On CNN NewsNight, The Atlantic’s Jemele Hill argues that capitalism is oppressive and bound up in white supremacy.

Kmele Foster: “It's one thing to not think capitalism isn't working ideally. It's another thing entirely to insist that it is oppressive, that it is bound up with white supremacy.

Hill: “How is it not?”

Foster: “I've always preferred Adam Smith's description of capitalism as the natural system of liberty. The idea that people can own property, that they can exchange it freely with one another for profit, that they can find ways to put their resources to good use and profit in a way that is actually beneficial to everyone else, that there can be gains from trade that are mutually beneficial. These are foundational ideas that have created more wealth than any other system in human history. That is what capitalism is! That is not white supremacy.”

Hill: “Do you think capitalism has always worked that way?”

Foster: “I've actually just described the basic facts of the economics.”

Hill: “That ain't how it's always worked.”

Foster: “Slavery is an institution that is older than writing. It predates capitalism. The notion that white supremacy and all these other things are bound up with capitalism in an intrinsic and fundamental way is so absurd and laughable, it barely needs to be defended.”

Hill: “How was it absurd?”

Foster: “It barely needs to be defended.”

Hill: “What do you mean it barely needs to be defended?”

Foster: “You actually have to articulate what the connections is. How are these two things the same? I'm talking about private property, the right to exchange and sell with whomever you like. What does that have to do with white supremacy? … What is the white supremacy dynamic of private property?“