> What political purpose is served by
> foregrounding the racial angle? Why not pitch it in some more universal way
> that might win broader support?
First, not to be rude, but this sounds kind of whiny. One could just as easily ask why you don't accept their outlook and why you expect them to say the things you want them to say. Second, did you miss this paragraph?
"As formerly insulated middle-class communities face economic upheaval and “fear of falling,” they experience what most underrepresented working class communities of color have confronted for quite some time: systematic underinvestment, hyperexploitation and structural barriers to equality written off as individual failure or cultural pathology."
Third, the focus-group sort of politics that wants to address and appeal to everyone opens the door for progressives, activists, SWP types, and other cretins to step in an install their democratic, consensus-based processes. These organized and organizing groups and their molar politics inevitably attempt to steer actions and give them meaning and direction. Which is the same thing as stopping movement and killing politics. This is not some speculative, theoretical concern, as it's happening now. See these links for details:
http://occupyca.wordpress.com/2009/10/30/what-is-a-movement-and-how-do-we-get-one-in-response-to-some-critics/ http://theimaginarycommittee.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/communique-no-1-a-call-to-those-who-can-hear-it/ http://thecommune.wordpress.com/2009/06/29/soas-occupation-challenges-immigration-raid-with-mixed-results/ http://reoccupied.wordpress.com/2009/04/ns_occupation.pdf (PDF)