LAUSR

This article assesses the link between racial symbolism and corporate education reform through the political discourse of Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick between 2007 and 2010. Where many observers find the representation of high profile Black elected officials as an attenuation of racial domination, I argue it is the symbolism of racial progress that is utilized to advance corporate interests in public education reform. Patrick’s discourse supports neoliberal education reform as a solution to racialized issues of poverty, public safety, and mass incarceration. Through Patrick’s personal narratives he affirms a pro-blackness that acknowledges the pervasiveness of racial disparities in which he offers public education reform as an alternative in contrast to more punitive discourses of law and order.