RTC 1- Article 19: Lipsitz, “The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: Racialized Social Democracy”
Article 19 in RTC discusses “possessive investment in whiteness”, but what does George Lipsitz mean by this phrase? First it is important to understand that the concept of race is a social construct, created to ensure and protect the rights of the European Americans ‘…because of realities created by slavery and segregation, by immigration restriction and Indian policy, by conquest and colonialism” (139) As this country began, and as institutions were being created and structured, it was always to ensure that ‘whites’ were protected, and would always be the beneficiaries of whatever it was that they were creating; hence, ‘positive investment in…