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Heidegger’s anti-Semitism is “historial” because it attributes to the Jewish people a task that is both world-historical and philosophically significant, having to do with the uprooting of beings. Why, according to Heidegger’s logic, must this be attributed to the Jews, since the process described involves multiple agents? Because the Jews are the racialized people that brings about a “deracialization” of humanity, a levelling and equivalence in indifference. This process can be compared by analogy with Marx’s analysis of money as the general equivalent, and of the proletariat as the agent and figure of revolution. For Heidegger, the new beginning of humanity requires a figure, a type, embodied in a people capable of hastening the end. For every singular beginning requires a people, as does every end.

Drawing on the racial priming, deracialization, and issue ownership literatures, this chapter expounds on the theory of racial distancing. Racial distancing theory predicts that the racial and partisan characteristics of politicians will influence their perceived credibility to maintain the racial status quo, as well as the latitude with which they can comfortably racially distance. White Republican politicians and Black Democratic politicians flank opposite ends of this spectrum. White Republican politicians are most likely believed to maintain the racial status quo, but their efforts to racially distance are also the most likely to be scrutinized. Black Democratic politicians are the least likely to be perceived as maintaining the racial status quo, but they also have the most latitude to racially distance without being penalized by white voters.

Chapter 4 begins with a discussion of several prominent black candidates, Democrats and Republicans alike, who engaged in racial distancing. The candidates include Herman Cain, Ben Carson, Artur Davis, Harold Ford Jr., Mia Love, Michael Nutter, and Allen West. In the latter part of the chapter, a survey experiment is conducted on a nationally representative sample of white Americans to test the efficacy of a racial distancing strategy, relative to deracialization. The results of the experiment demonstrate that a deracialized message that emphasized commonality across racial lines actually resulted in less electoral support than messages that either implicitly or explicitly disparaged blacks, suggesting that when attracting the electoral support of white Americans, racial distancing is a more effective strategy than deracialization.

This chapter examines the practice and the consequences of race-neutral campaign strategies in America. More specifically, it looks at the origins of race-neutral campaign strategies among black politicians in the early 1980s and how race-neutral black candidates, particularly Barack Obama, tackled racism or racial inequality during their election campaigns. It also considers the informal wink-and-nod agreement forged between race-neutral black candidates and black voters who supported them, along with its implications for black politics. Finally, the chapter discusses “deracialization” as a campaign strategy adopted by race-neutral black candidates.