Posted: September 24th, 2022

Racism, Whiteness, Class

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Title: Racism, Whiteness, Class
Since the founding of America, people of color have experienced systemic oppression, segregation, imprisonment, and targeted violence from white-dominated institutions. To date, racism is one of the problems facing the United States and many nations globally. On the other hand, some white Americans live below the poverty in abject poverty who are periodically faced with classism. Although these two issues have been treated as two different issues, it is counterproductive to separate racism and classism. When focusing on one problem, other important issues such as problems faced by Latinos, African Americans, Asians, and indigenous communities can be overlooked. On the other hand, whiteness is a racial discourse representing white people standing for a social identity constructed based on skin color. However, the term does not have a consensual meaning, but its meaning is based on the meaning attached to race regarding time and place. The system that conceived and started the slave system also introduced the seeds of racism, classism, whiteness, or white privilege. The 1800s and some parts of the 1900s saw the immigrant population experienced discrimination and prejudice, and only some of the biases against the people of color were encoded into law. As such, this paper discusses racism, class, and whiteness and their relationship with white privilege.
In the colonial era, racism in the United States involved actions, attitudes, laws, and practices that discriminated against different groups based on their ethnicity. During this time, most Americans enjoyed sanctioned legal and social rights and privileges while populations in other races were denied the same rights and privileges. The whites experienced privileges in education, voting, immigration, property ownership, and process in criminal procedures. The book chapter on naturalization and the courts provides a glimpse of racism based on ethnicity. In one case, in an immigration case, the judge concluded that the people who designed the immigration law did not expect to have immigrants from anywhere else except Europe. As a result, the Syrian immigrant could not be considered white (Jacobson, 223). It also explains how the court system handled the concept of race concerning self-governance and how the courts maintained the core concept of what it took to be a good citizen. However, in the naturalization process, the book chapter explains the prejudices of the early lawmakers. Moreover, the chapter further explains how the court system in America maintained the idea of Caucasians in its naturalization process. This provided whites with privilege while further segregating minority populations.
Additionally, the chapter indicates how race was used to allocate political and social privileges to certain ethnic groups. The definition of white changed over time to mean anyone who did not have Negro blood. Further, changes in the naturalization law increased populations that were included in the Caucasian group. Although many groups contested people’s whiteness, the courts maintained that the term was only meant to indicate the Caucasian race (Jacobson, 235). However, the law continually segregated African American populations from the immigration inclusion debate. The legal system fostered white privilege while it isolated minority groups further.
Moreover, chapter four of the book Color in the Classroom: How American Schools Taught Race provides an important glimpse of racism in American schools. The chapter captures the role of educators in the war against racism in children. The teaching of racial egalitarianism to foster tolerance among students played an important role in educating the war against racism (Burkholder, 98). In the chapter, the role educators played in the eradication of racism is clearly explained. Understanding what racial bigotry was in conjunction with Americans’ desire to tolerate cultural anomalies from minority groups represented tolerance in the educational landscape (Burkholder, 105). Also, course content design to counteract harmful stereotypes played a key role in building confidence in minority student groups and improving their self-esteem. As such, the result of better social interactions between minority students and their peers. The results were the creation of a multicultural society that embraced diversity.
Additionally, a careful look into the lives of Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X indicates the similarities and differences the two leaders had in the black liberation struggle. The paper indicates how both leaders adapted to the leadership challenges facing them, resulting. The teachings by Malcolm may have conflicted with Dr. King Jr.’s approach in the liberation struggle. The killings of black minority groups and the anger and frustration of African American populations resulted in a paradigm shift in the black liberation struggle (Carson, 14). As indicated by the black delegation to the white house, black leaders became difficult to call for nonviolent agitation for equal rights. The paper serves the role of explaining the use and effectiveness of nonviolent tactics in a military version in any mass protest. Although they were both assassinated before realizing their vision, the visionary aspect of the two liberation struggle leaders is clearly illustrated. Racism, prejudice, segregation, and violence towards black minority groups could only be solved through legislation. The black liberation movement’s agitations paved the way for legislation and civic education, giving blacks equal rights to whites. This fostered a culture of tolerance, albeit with white privilege.
Besides, further exploration of history indicates the African American population faced racism throughout much of American history. For instance, the Cherokee freedmen indicate a story of exclusion, absence, and silence where Cherokee citizens exclude the multiracial population of African Americans who are treated with discourse. This bias towards the black population has its origin during plantation ancestry (Sturm, 232). Further, forced labor, segregation, and bondage of African populations are seen in Kentland’s history. After integration at the end of the civil war, the African American community-acquired land formed a community centered on coal mining and farming (Cook and Klatka, 27). Looking further at other enslaved workers, the existence of injuries to workers were easily ignored. The issues explained, looking at the development and use of the short hoe, shows how justice is more of a political problem than a legal issue.
Additionally, Du Bois’s criticism of the white world places class as the foundation of white power. In his arguments, Du Bois argues that the worlds of race are created not only by colonialism, slavery, white privilege, segregation, and exploitation. Also, these factors perpetuate racial hierarchy. Besides, whiteness is a cross-class alliance product between the working class and capitalists where the working class receives privileges to accept capitalism. As such, Du Bois further argue the only way to do away with the class system and whiteness is by utilizing political efforts from the dark world (Olson, 119). In this, he encouraged the creation of a black nation within the white nation. Besides, Du Bois noted that the black world was the future of democracy while noting that the whiteness was a threat to American democracy. Whiteness and cultural diversity conflict in that the white world holds that it maintains democracy. However, the white world practices racial tyranny. In the formation of democracies, whites democratic aspirations are easily overtaken by racial interests (Olson, 123). In defending new democracies, the task involves having whites abandon their privileged standing used to define whiteness. As such, the destruction of alliances between classes would leave whiteness with a minute or no meaning except an unclear and impractical description of skin color.
The course has provided me with insights into whiteness and how white privilege is perceived. The resistance to change the notion of whiteness is rooted in the idea that inequality is either black or Latino. Besides, the issue of racial superiority was created to justify discrimination against non-whites. Moreover, the subject provided me with a glimpse of the American culture since the pre-colonial period. New issues emerging that affect minority groups, such as systemic and institutional racism, need consideration. Right now, people in all cultures stand by the notion all lives matter. The social climate on quality is tense due to unresolved police brutality on African Americans. In the future, topics such as systemic and institutional racism could also be included in the course.
In conclusion, whiteness provides whites with privilege in societies with mixed races. Whiteness has its routes in white colonialism in circumstances that aim to protect whites’ racial privileges while further segregating other minority groups. Racism and class were prevalent pre-colonial period, with African American citizens and Latinos sent into bondage and forced labor. However, changes in the education sector saw educators design lessons to teach multicultural tolerance, thereby playing important roles in creating racial tolerance and a multicultural society. Further, Malcolm X and Martin L.King Jr. contributed to black liberation by using different methods to fight for black liberation. However, laws and court system maintained the core concept of whiteness. Regulations and laws framed were aimed at protecting white privileges. While whites’ privileges were protected, the minority groups were further segregated into misery and slavery.
Works Cited
Burkholder, Zoe. Color In the Classroom: How American Schools Taught Race 1900-1954. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Carson, Clayborne. “The Unfinished Dialogue of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X.” Souls (2005): 12-19.
Cook, Samuel R and Thomas Klatka. “The Nexus of Collaboration: Negotiating African American History and Public Interest in Southwest Virginia.” Anthropolgy Now (2015): 26-36.
Jacobson, Matthew Frye. Whiteness of a Different Color: European Immigrants and the Alchemy of Race. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Havard Uniersity Press, 1998.
Olson, Joel. “W.E.B. Du Bois and the Race Concept.” Souls (2005): 118-128.
Sturm, Circe. “Blood Politics, Racial Classification, and Cherokee National Identity: The Trials and Tribulations of the Cherokee Fredmen.” Blood Politics, Racial Classification, and Cherokee National Identity: The Trials and Tribulations (1998): 230-258.

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