Journal of Communication Inquiry 37(2) 171–185 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0196859913482139 jci.sagepub.com Article Racial Politics in an Online Community: Discursive Closures and the Potentials for Narrative Appropriation Joshua D. Atkinson 1 , Clayton Rosati 1 , Suzanne Berg 1 , Matthew Meier 1 , and Brion White 1 Abstract The following essay explores the racial politics within an online community focused on the city of Detroit. Past research has demonstrated that the intertextual strategies utilized by the DetroitYES! community have built an alternative cityscape that changes the way people interact with the physical environment. In our research we engaged in a qualitative content analysis of different threads on the discussion forum, and we interviewed members of the community to illustrate racial politics in this virtual site. Our research illustrated administrative strategies utilized within the community that closed down discourse about race. On the surface, these appeared to be authoritarian strategies that maintained White privilege. However, further research and analysis demonstrated how these strategies gave rise to the possibilities for narrative appropriation and building bridges by minority communities. Keywords alternative media, critical and cultural studies, activism, virtual community, qualitative media studies Recent research concerning online communities has demonstrated possibilities for the construction of alternative cityscapes through diffused intertextual production. Such research notes that the simultaneous presence of intertextuality (see Ott & Walter, 2000) 1 Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH, USA Corresponding Author: Joshua D. Atkinson, PhD, School of Media & Communication, Bowling Green State University, 302 West Hall, Bowling Green, OH 43402, USA. Email: jatkins@bgsu.edu 482139JCI 37 2 10.1177/0196859913482139Journal of Communication InquiryAtkinson et al. research-article 2013