Racism, revolution, and the ‘American dilemma’

Arendt’s writing on race and racism in the United States demonstrates both blindness and insight. Widely criticised for arguing against the legal enforcement of school integration in Little Rock, her distinctions of private, political, and social realms inadvertently blinded her to the stark inequalities that Black children faced in public schools. Moreover, although she wrote about the ‘American dilemma’ of slavery at the foundation of the American Revolution, Arendt did not apply her argument that each person has the fundamental right to have rights to the institution of slavery and its legacy. Finally, the chapter considers Arendt’s writings on civil disobedience and collective responsibility in light of missed encounters with the influential work of Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King.