“Uprooting Racism and Racists in the United States” has become even more timely and instructive today than when James and Grace Lee Boggs first sounded the alarm in 1970. In this essay, the Boggses diagnose the “essential contradiction” of economic overdevelopment and political underdevelopment, tracing its path through key stages: how racism has been interwoven into U.S. economic development; a destructive national drive for economic growth at all costs; and how subsequent generations of Americans prioritize economics over principles—breeding a collective social irresponsibility that leaves us unable to act ethically in the face of pressing social challenges.

Today, the contradiction the Boggses identified has grown more entrenched—and its consequences more destructive. “Uprooting” helps explain why millions voted for Trump in 2024 despite his demonstrated corruption, why society fails to regulate the expansion of AI and data centers, why we are unable to forestall the climate changes that scientists have long warned against, why immigrants face racist vilification, and why the federal government is intent on erasing the centrality of race to the making of the country. Ultimately, “Uprooting” offers a crucial assessment of where this contradiction began, how it shapes the nation, and where we need to go.

James Boggs was an African American autoworker and labor organizer from Marion Junction, Alabama. He was raised in the rural South under Jim Crow, then moved to Detroit and worked for Chrysler during the height of industrial-era prosperity. Grace Lee Boggs was a Chinese American philosopher born in Providence, Rhode Island, and raised in New York City. After obtaining her PhD, Grace was spurned by academia and made her home in the Black community and movement. Jimmy and Grace married in 1953. Together, they worked to build the movements for Civil Rights and Black Power, as well as cross-racial and international solidarity. The Boggses foresaw the devastation Detroit and the United States would face owing to automation, white supremacy, militarism, authoritarianism, and the emphasis on technological over human development. Through writing and organizing, they struggled to move the nation beyond the stage of rebellion against an unjust system by encouraging organizers and all members of society to see revolution as the exercise of self-government and an evolutionary advance for humanity.