The band attracted controversy in the late 1990s, before any releases, as a result of their radical take on racial politics, which focused on ideas like systemic racism and white privilege before they were widely discussed topics in popular or underground culture.
Racetraitor was formed in 1996 by drummer Karl Hlavinka, guitarist Daniel Binaei, bassist Brent Decker, and vocalist Mani Mostofi, playing powerviolence/grindcore music.
Decker soon left the group; a number of musicians played bass in the band temporarily, including Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz.
"But with everything happening in the past couple of years, from the way things heated up in Ferguson, Missouri, to the rise in xenophobia and bigotry reflected by the popularity of Donald Trump, making new music with Racetraitor felt important again.
[9] Racetraitor announced their signing to Good Fight Music in October 2018, releasing their second full-length 2042 with lead single "BLK XMAS.
[11] Vice call the record "a barn-burning blast of metallic hardcore fury that screams by with guns blazing and fists held high.
Mostofi explained that "their decision to nab this particular title as a nod to that particular brand of fragile white fear, and a thumbed nose at the inflammatory xenophobic, Islamophobic rhetoric fueling the right wing’s terror.
[16] As a result of the attention and before releasing any music, Racetraitor was featured on the covers of Maximumrocknroll and HeartattaCk, two of the most influential punk and hardcore publications at the time.
In 1999, Tacoma, Washington metalcore band Botch released the song "C. Thomas Howell as the 'Soul Man'" on their 1999 album We Are the Romans, a critique of Racetraitor's attitude to race politics.