Whiteness And Racial Discrimination

Whiteness and Racialized Ethnic Groups in the United States The idea of whiteness and boundaries separating the American whites from other people of color is evident in the American history. The controversial historical emergence of whiteness, race prejudice and the superiority feeling of the whites over other ethnic groups of color, is not clear in the American history. At some point, race discrimination is thought to have found its way to America as a result of slavery and white race’s superiority over other people of color (Pinder,20). From a point of view, race prejudice must found its way as a result of the whites’ feeling of superiority regarding nature, character, beliefs, culture, religion, ethical values and all other aspects …show more content…
Pinder says, “white men 's power and the power of the state were synonymous.” (Pinder,17). This means that the whites had total control over the people of color and had all the support from the state than anybody else. As a result, they white man had the power to exercise total control and could violently act on people of other races, especially the blacks while using such absolute power granted to them by the state laws. The people of the color had no rights preserved to them as all rights were reserved for the whites. Pinders says, “Black became the signifier for non-white,” he must have been referring to all the nonwhites corporate effort against the whites. All the non-whites were discriminated as people of the color and the supremacy effect of the white equally affected them all. Apart from the blacks, the first nations, the Chinese, the Mexicans, and all other racialized groups faced enormous discrimination, subordination and were denied liberties and of citizenship right. These marginalized groups were for example not allowed to participate in civil rights such as voting, and no state laws were yet formed to protect them from mistreatment by the …show more content…
Such laws were extended to an extent of even losing the lives of the non-whites. The strict punishment was permitted by law in case a slave resisted an order from the masters or mistresses. If a slave died in the process of receiving punishment, the “bosses” had no felony judges against them. The Virginian assembly declaration of 1969 is a good example of laws that allowed strict punishment of slaves by the white masters and mistresses. According to the declaration, the whites could not be inflicted upon Negros, and the masters and mistresses were to administer correction to the Negro servants without any consequences if a Negro servant died in the process (Pinder,16). Freedom and abolishing of slavery could have meant equal rights to all, but this was not the case. The freed black slaves were, for example, denied rights that whites enjoyed by the whites. The law restricted Negros from carrying a weapon of any kind, and they could not leave their masters ' premises without a pass