New Books Network Alana Lentin, "The New Racial Regime: Recalibrations of White Supremacy" (Pluto Books, 2025)
May 4, 2026
Alana Lentin, Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis and author focused on race and racial capitalism. She traces the panic over critical race theory and how it’s used politically. She revisits Cedric Robinson and the Black radical tradition. She discusses limits of liberal anti-racism, dangers of anti-hate framing, and the politics of history teaching and cultural representation.
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War On Critical Race Theory As Political Strategy
- The war on critical race theory is a political strategy to destabilize anti-racist movements by naming and focalizing a vague threat.
- Christopher Rufo's naming of CRT turned diffuse resistance after George Floyd into an effective moral panic that protected white innocence and institutions.
Alana Lentin's Path From Frustration To Scholarship
- Alana Lentin recounts her intellectual journey from frustration with liberal anti-racism to studying racial capitalism and anti-racist practices.
- She traces this path through a master's and PhD that led to comparative European research and her first book.
CRT's Limits Versus Black Radical Tradition
- Critical race theory's institutional origins narrow its reach, leaving limits on colonial and imperial analysis.
- Lentin critiques CRT's U.S.-law roots and argues the Black radical tradition pushes beyond reformism toward abolition or systemic rupture.
