Ian Haney López Book Launch: Book Launch Promotion Focused on Racial Discussion
Since Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, where he famously proclaimed, “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem,” we have seen a steady shift toward dismantling federal and state protections that should support us all. We have also seen a growing, mostly white audience primed, through coded racial appeals or “dog whistles,” to not only distrust government but actively work to tear it apart.
In his book, Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle Class, author and constitutional law scholar Ian Haney López succinctly laid out how the strategy of “dog whistling” has been successful in electing conservative politicians for more than fifty years. After Dog Whistle Politics was released, I came on board to promote the book and share the underlying political strategies outlined in its pages with new audiences.
Promotion challenges:
In America, a dominant narrative has taught that the individual alone is responsible for personal success, and that government’s only role is to get out of the way. Conservative media and icons have steadily built out this narrative for decades, which also dovetailed with the civil rights era belief that being “colorblind” was a sign of progress. Simultaneously, the left in America also operated from the colorblind notion that talking about race actually took us backward rather than forward, and if we just waited long enough, changing demographics over time would solve everything. This became especially true during the “post-racial” years of Obama’s presidency, and getting white progressives to see outside this colorblind bubble has been a challenge.
Promotion strategy:
With an eye toward sharing this deeper understanding of how race operates in America with the larger culture, we decided to get Dog Whistle Politics into the hands of entertainment industry professionals like John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, Shonda Rhimes, Zach Galifianakis, Peter Bratt, and political cartoonist Berkeley Breathed, among others. Kathy Najimy, known for her roles on Veep and King of the Hill, shared this clip on dog-whistling with her circles, and writer and independent filmmaker Louise Rubacky said of being introduced to the book: “Dog Whistle Politics presents essential American history on institutional racism, and reading it gave me an opportunity to think carefully about its themes, and talk and write about them.” I also expanded this outreach strategy to include local and state political leaders and elected officials, with particular emphasis on states in the South.
Results:
Through these connections, I was able to introduce Ian to a type of message testing that would eventually put metrics to his theory that discussing race overtly, rather than continuing to operate under colorblind narratives, could bring people together in support of good government. The research team found that his theory of purposely linking race and class, rather than looking at them as separate factors, was the strongest way to build cross-racial solidarity and defeat conservative ideology.
Someone I turn to again and again.
“Claudette Silver is creative, clever, and energetic—on top of being friendly, enthusiastic, and a delight to work with. Claudette has been unstoppable in thinking up and pursuing publicity ideas, but even more than that, she’s a fantastic creative resource, someone I turn to again and again for help translating my ideas into words with the widest possible reach.”
—Ian Haney López, Author & Constitutional Law Scholar