It is generally acknowledged that people who are White have some advantages in U.S. society. This is due to the fact that throughout history, society and all that exists within it has been constructed by and through the mindset of White elites throughout history. The Constitution of the United States itself was formed by white elites and for their own advancement. Likewise, this has been the same for most if not all aspects of our nation’s history. This all links back to the idea of manifest destiny, or the idea that, in the nineteenth century, we as (white) Americans had the privilege and divine right to westward expansion and development of society. Continuing off of this, there is also the idea of the White Man’s Burden that has formed out of this mode of thinking. To the white man, it is his burden, as the superior race, to act as the authority figure because the other less civilized and inferior races are incompetent and incapable of governing themselves. Ultimately, all of this white privilege goes back to the fact that this nation was created by white individuals for the betterment of their own (white) agendas.
"Racism changes over time, taking on different forms and serving different social purposes
in different eras" (Lipsitz, 88)
From various readings that I have been assigned, I have been introduced to the idea that social and political structures are largely based on the form of economy at the time, and how exploitation comes in forms that readily and easily permeate them. In times of slavery in the United States, the economy was based heavily on agrarian means of production. Land was of utmost priority, and much profit could be made from utilizing this land as a means of agricultural production. Of course, with the tending of land comes the need for laborers to accomplish these tasks. For the American plantation owner, this came in the form of slave labor from the African Slave Trade. Racism was rampant and created a negative identity for all of the Africans that were forced here. Over time, the nation started to become more and more industrialized; more mechanized and less dependent on any one individual worker’s skills. It was in this period that exploitation for the laborer came in the form of lack of sufficient pay, working conditions, and hours. All of this still relating to the idea of generating a surplus of wealth for the few while furthering the oppression of the masses. As we venture towards the society that exists today, we have done a great job of hiding these oppressive and exploitative aspects, but unfortunately allow them to remain in place. Today we might not see the blatant racist acts that would have occurred during the period of slavery in the United States, but there still exists individual, institutional, and cultural racism in our society. You only have to look at the assigned reading in this class to see a few of the exploitative measures that still exist in this nation today.
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