Curiously, both racist white people who protest anti-discrimination laws and people of color who antagonize white people are actually fighting against their own interests. Although racist ideas are originally created by racist policymakers to protect their self-interest, these ideas take on a life of their own once they enter the public sphere. Both anti-Black and anti-white ideas are effective tools for dividing and conquering Americans who could otherwise stand up to racist power. Racist policies might appear to be in working- and middle-class white people’s self-interest—but in reality, they’re not. In fact, many such white people trade better working and living conditions (which they’d get from antiracist policies) for a mere emotional sense of racial superiority (which they get from racist policies).