Democracy Is Awkward: Grappling with Racism inside American Grassroots Political Organizing

In uncertain times, confronting pressing problems such as racial oppression and the environmental crisis requires everyday people to come together and wield political power for the greater good. Yet, as Michael Rosino shows, progressive political organizations in the United States have frequently failed to achieve social change. Why? Rosino posits that it is because of the unwillingness of white progressives at the grassroots level to share power with progressives of color.

Using rich ethnographic data, Rosino focuses on participants in a real grassroots progressive political party in the northeastern United States. While the organization’s goals included racial equity and the inclusion of people of color, its membership and leadership remained disproportionately white, and the group had mixed success in prioritizing and carrying out its racial justice agenda. By highlighting the connections between racial inequality, grassroots democracy, and political participation, Rosino weaves in the voices and experiences of party members and offers insights for building more robust and empowering spaces of grassroots democratic engagement.

Michael Rosino is assistant professor of sociology at Molloy College.