How White People Became White

Sociologist define race as a “socially defined category based on real or percived biological differnces between groups of people”. In the 19th century biologist came up with the three different categories that groups the three human races: Mongoloid, Causasoid and Negroid. They belived that different races where charaterized by biological makeup. But modern sciences have proved that theory to be wrong because there is no such thing as a “pure” race. We are 99.9% genetically idenitcal. Race is just a concept humans made up, it isn’t actually real.

Prior to beginning my readings on white racial identity, I did not pay much attention to my white race. If someone had asked me to describe my appearance I would have said short blond hair, blue eyes, average stature, etc. One of the last things I would have noted was the color of my skin. Growing up in overwhelmingly white communities, I never thought to use the color of my skin to differentiate myself from others. Over the course of this dialogue I have learned that my white racial identity is one of the most defining aspects of my appearance in this society. There is a certain level of privilege that I am afforded based solely on the color of my skin. According to Peggy McIntosh, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless

From a biological perspective, race is a social construct that has little bias in genetics. In the PBS documentary, episode 1: Race: The Power of Illusion, Microbiologist Pilar

Race, simple external differences linked to other complex internal differences, has historically created issues in American society. “Race and racial inequalities are one of the most vital issues confronting contemporary U.S. society,” explains Sociologist Ronald Takaki. In the past race has had both biological and social implications across the country.

Tonight in class we talked about whether or not white people should be able to adopt children of another race, and I am torn with this. Sometimes these children are in a very bad situation and need anything other than what they have, and in some cases the anything is better than nothing. I do think that there should be some educational courses that the adopting parents should have to be will to undergo so that they are aware of what racism is and how it works. This class would be a good example of some education that should be required.

Working Towards Whiteness is about immigrants who are coming to the United States during the twentieth century and struggling to become white. This is because America has this identity of being white and the new immigrants are facing the problem of fitting in based on their race and class. The states have applied restriction so that they can preserve the population to be more white. In Roediger historical studies he brings these practices to light and his goals to draw attention to the biased white supremacist policy of the government in the regulations of immigration. Roediger most evident strength would be that he has the adaptation of the “in-between” status of the new immigrants coming in, which they are neither accepted as white neither can they be able to identify themselves as their pre-existing background.

This is interesting to me in that though everyone looks different, we are al vary similar at a the DNA level. Our differences are not so great. There are two historical perspectives on race and ethnicity among geneticist. One is that is a cultural and historical construct with no biological significance, meaning that there is entirely unique to a particular ethnicity. The other argument is that there are biological differences between different ethnicities. As the human genome was being sequenced, different frequencies of genes variants related to disease susceptibility, drug metabolism, and environmental response were found among different populations (). Even though there is a small difference in DNA from person to person, there is some biological distinction. The variations of these genes tend to be similar among certain

Frederick Douglass Accomplishments: Frederick Douglass was a very accomplished person. He was known to fight against slavery in the South. He escaped when he was 16, and ever since then he decided to speak out against slavery. Many African Americans, then and now think of him as a hero, but what did he do to become a hero? Why was it important then, and what are its effects now?

According to Edwin Black, eugenics is “the effort to create a white, blue-eyed, blond-haired, Nordic master race in the United States, and wipe away the existence of everyone who did not fit that ideal”. Black goes further by explaining the implementation of this ideal, saying “Now who did they want to wipe away? They wanted to wipe away Mexicans, Italians. They wanted to wipe away the Asians the Jews, those who they believed were feeble minded, the Deaf, the poor.”

Race is a social-constructed terminology where it categorizes people into groups that share certain distinctive physical characteristics such as skin color. However, race and racial identity is unstable, unfixed and constantly shifting, as race, typically, is a signifier of prevalent social conflict and interest. Although, many, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, argue in the aforementioned point of view, some – mainly white population -- believe that racial characteristics are biologically inherited.

The Dictionary of American History, defines White Supremacy as “the belief that members of the Caucasian or white race are superior in all ways to other groups or races in the world” The ideology supports the position that, intellectually whites are superior and by virtue of that superiority must form the Government and lead other races, who were thought of as less than humans and existed only to serve the whites. White Supremacy is the foundation upon which the United States was built. It is manifested in all the important areas throughout the country’s history. For instance, “the United States Government has a total of 55 members; all white and 15 of the 55 are owners of African slaves” . “No blacks, or other minority races were included in the formation of the Government. Only one person of color has ever been elected to the US Government” .

Rather than merely examining the affects of racism on people of color, the book turns its attention to whiteness and how a system of white privilege, supported and perpetuated by whites, also damages whites by inhibiting them from making meaningful connections with other human beings. Until I almost reached the end of this book I was uncomfortable and disturbed by the way the book made me feel. As a white male, I am aware of the pain that my ancestors have created for others to advance the free world. I have pain for those who suffered and disagree with actions that were taken by my white predecessors. But I believed that we are now in a much more advanced world where we have chosen the first black president and equality was a focus of most Americans. Identifying with my culture as currently being a white supremacist society is something I have never considered, or would not want to consider. In Neuliep, within the Coudon and Yousef’s Value orientations, we perceive the human nature orientation within the United States with people being essentially rational. This term, rational, can be somewhat subjective. And if we continue with the same value system, and look from ‘the self’ values, we foster our self-identities from the influence of our culture’s values. If we are to reflect truthfully to how our country evolved and what we ‘had to do’ to create our freedom by limiting the freedom of other, how would we then perceive

Even though he naively believed that white men were the supreme race, he was staunchly against slavery as an institution and felt that the Declaration of Independence included black persons. In the same debate, Lincoln goes on to state that he “[does] not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the Negro should be denied every thing” (Lincoln). He believed that ‘the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, applies to all men, regardless of their color, ethnicity, or culture. This may be attributed to the fact that he had not had many encounters with Black slaves until when he was in his late teens, where it had a profound impact on him (Foner 8).

White supremacy and superiority was an idea that turned into a belief among many that the white race was better than the other races (“White Supremacy”, Jenkins). White supremacy gave people the idea that people of the white race were better than African Americans. People on the jury of court trials were almost always white and had this idea in their brain which led to whites always being considered innocent and African Americans guilty. This is shown in To Kill a Mockingbird during the Tom Robinson trial when the jury was all white and they knew Tom was innocent but because he was African American and was going against a white person he was considered guilty of rape (Lee). Even though that particular example was from a book, it is based on true stories that actually occurred. White supremacy was in the brains of whites and states only helped to support this idea. States had “emphasized white superiority” because government were made up of whites and that is what they believed in (“Student Edition Page 236”). When white superiority was brought into the mix of things like the Jim Crow laws, it made discrimination and segregation worse and more common. The idea of white superiority was brought into the court systems so every time an African American was against a white in court, they would have no chance and would be found guilty. In the United States the Jim Crow laws were

Crash. It is the perfect analogy of how we as a human race deal with life, people and our own experiences. Physical characteristics and racial differences may be interpreted as two distinguishing traits that separate us. I think it’s what keeps us apart. That leaves several abstract questions that the film Crash illustrates. What are the origins of personal prejudice? Do individual experiences fuel standing stereotypes? Is it easier to perpetuate existing stereotypes because “things will never change?” Can people battle internal struggles within their own ethnic group? What prohibits us from overcoming these prejudices? The writers of the Crash managed to extend my viewing experience beyond the 90 minute film, thus forcing me to analyze my