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BLACKS ARE HUMAN TOO: SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF RACE
Leah Ryan
Blacks Are Human Too: Social Construction of Race
In America, racism is systemic. All American institutions show some kind of
racism. We base our racism on what we have learned from history and what our elders
teach us. Non-whites were not accepted in the beginning of our society, and we still have
trouble accepting them today. Racism is constructed by society through science, politics,
laws and culture.
Science shows that there are very little differences between people of different
races. There are some diseases that some races are more at risk for than others, such as
sickle cell disease for African Americans, and Multiple Sclerosis for Europeans, but all in
all there are very few differences between different races (Craygun & Craygun et al.,
2004, 25). Therefore, it is understood that if race is not biologically constructed, then it is
socially constructed. People make up stereotypes based on socio-historic concepts that
they are exposed to early in life (Omi & Winant, 2004).
American society has been racist from the beginning. Labor was needed on
plantations and farms and they wanted it for free. Therefore, they began to use African
Americans for free labor. Americans needed a way to defend the way they treated nonwhites and that is where our racism was created. It was decided that African Americans
were stupid and did not know how to be civilized and that whites were doing them a
favor by making them work (Adelman 2003). Therefore, even from the beginning, it has
been in American culture to be racist against non-whites. It is even seen in our language,
a huge part of any culture. Most people call African Americans “black.” Robert Moore,
author of Racist Stereotyping in the English Language calls to our attention the negative
connotations with the word black, such as evil. Another negative use of the word black is
the term “black sheep,” which is someone who is the odd one out. At the same time, the
color white is used to describe pureness. Someone who is pure is white and someone
who is mixed is considered black (Omi & Winant, 2004, 11).
In American culture, being white is what is “normal” (Wah 1994). White people
have special privileges without even necessarily knowing it. Whites can go into a store
and buy flesh colored band-aids without even thinking about it. However, when a non-
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white goes into a store and wants to buy band-aids, the skin tone bandages won’t blend
into their skin color like it does for whites (Macintosh, 2004). Whites can also get onto a
plane without worrying about people being uneasy around them on a plane due to race.
Whites do not have to think about people being clutching their purses closer to
themselves when they walk by or store clerks keeping an extra eye on the for shoplifting
(Macintosh, 2004). Many non-whites have to acclimate to “white” culture while whites
do not have to think about acclimating to someone else’s culture (Wah 1994). Those who
are non-white feel as though they need to establish and identify what race they are so that
they can clearly be identified because most people thing of Americans as being white
(Wah 1994). Although many whites think of racism as a “black” problem, it can actually
be thought of as a white problem. The main issue is that instead of accepting other races
as they are, whites are trying to change non-whites so that they act like whites so that
they can be accepted by whites in society (Wah 1994).
Even religious institutions showed signs of racism. When the English first came
over sees to America, they wondered if Native Americans were God’s people. They
believed that God vision of a human being was a white person, not non-whites (Omi &
Winant, 10). This belief was called monogenesis. Even though religion is not racist like
this now, when many people picture Jesus, they picture him as being white even though it
would only make sense for God to be of Middle Eastern descent. Many people do not
want to picture Jesus as someone who is Middle Eastern because they are racist.
Media today is one of the main ways that racism is constructed by society. In the
media, stereotypes are made up and then absorbed by people, especially impressionable
young people. Over time, these stereotypes are ingrained in our minds and we cannot
forget the stereotypes. For example, in the movie In Her Shoes, the main character
played by Cameron Diaz, has to go in a dark impound lot to pick up her car, and when
she sees a black man who works at the lot she tenses up. This is part of the stereotype
that African Americans are thugs and young white girls should be scared of them. Even
when they are not being shown in a negative light, they are still being stereotyped many
times. For example, in the show Power Rangers, the black ranger, who is African
American, is displayed as being unintelligent, agile and as a ladies man. These are
common stereotypes from the media that many people in society buy into. When
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someone says, “you dance like a white boy,” they are saying that the person can’t dance.
In the media, African Americans who speak in a clear, concise manner and use a large
vocabulary are considered to be a “white black person.” It is more common in movies
for blacks to speak in Ebonics and use slang words. They are also expected to where big
chains, large diamond stud earrings and baggy jeans.
Many laws in America showed the inequality that non-whites experienced in
American society. After slavery was abolished, many African American’s tried to gain
citizenship by going to free states, but even in free states it was not easy to gain
citizenship. For example, in the Dred Scott v Sanford case, Dred Scott was a newly free
man and tried to gain citizenship. However, because he was at one time a slave, he was
told by America that he would never be able to gain citizenship (Adelman 2003).
Another example of ways in which the US government is racist is the case of Takao
Ozawa v US. Takao was a man of Japanese decent who had no intent on going to Japan
and concentrated on being American. He wore western styled clothing and did
everything he could to blend in as an American. He wanted to gain citizenship in
America and went to court to do so. Usually, to become a citizen you needed to be
Caucasian. He agreed that he was not Caucasian but that he had skin that was whiter than
most white peoples. However, he was refused citizenship because he was not Caucasian
(Adelman 2003). Three months later however, Bhagat Singh Thind, an Indian man who
served in the US Military. He too wanted to gain citizenship and when he went to court
he pointed out that he was Caucasian. However, he was refused citizenship because his
skin was not white. This shows how backward the American legal system is. If one had
white skin but were not Caucasian or had dark skin but were Caucasian, one could not
become a citizen because of a lack of European discent.
More legal racism appeared when American soldiers came back from World War
II. The GI bill entitled soldiers to be able to own a home in Levittown, New York for
only thirty-seven dollars per month. Because they too were soldiers, African Americans
believed that they too would be able to own a home as well. However, they were rudely
awakened when they returned home and realtors were turning them away from Levittown
claiming that they did not want blacks in the area. They were then told to rent in the
inner cities (Adelman 2003). This still affects people today. Most Americans hold most
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of their wealth in the property that they own. However, because many blacks could not
own a home, they did not have the wealth that whites did. Also, when blacks finally were
allowed to own homes, the value of their homes went down. After awhile African
American’s were finally able to have mortgages and move into the suburbs. When they
would buy houses in Levittown, the realtors in that area would ask all of the white
families to quickly sell their homes for a low price in order to get off of that street. This
would alarm white families and they would quickly sell their homes back to the realtor
who would then sell the same home to another black family. Soon these streets turned
into black streets and depreciated in value. This goes back to how people are still
affected by this today when a black families house has less value than a white persons
because of their race.
Mortgages were not the only thing that blacks could not have. They were also not
allowed to marry someone who is white. The reason that whites were not allowed to
marry African Americans was because they were considered non-human. Therefore, by
marrying and having sexual relations with someone who was black was considered
bestiality (Adelman 2003). Mixing of races is called miscegenation and the law was
lifted in 1967 after the case of Loving v Virginia. Mildred Jeter who was African
American and Richard Loving, a white man got married in the District of Columbia.
When they returned home to Virginia, they were arrested because interracial marriage
was illegal in Virginia at this time. However, they sued and won their case, which is
when the law against interracial marriage was lifted (Adelman 2003).
Race has been an issue in America since the beginning and continues to be
an issue today. Race is systematic within America and everything from Science, to the
media, and the legal system shows our racism. It is harder for African Americans to get
jobs, and they generally make less (Craygun & Craygun Et Al, 2004). People are
exposed to racism at ages as young as 5 years old (Craygun & Craygun, Et Al. 2004).
There are many whites that do not even realize the extent of racism in
America. They believe that because they are not racist themselves, that there is no longer
any racism. However, there are unearned privileges for being white, whether we realize
it or not. Everyone needs to learn about racism and realize that inequality still exists in
order to put an end to racism in America once and for all.
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Works Cited
Adelman, Larry. (Executive Producer). “The Stories We Tell” Part 2 and “The
House We Live in” Part 3. Race: The Power of Illusion. Los Angeles: California
Newsreel.
2003.
Craygun, Ryan T., Deborah Craygun and Piotr Konieczny. “Race and Ethnicity” in Introduction
to Sociology. Pages 115-121, 130-131. Unpublished Manuscript.
Macintosh, Peggy. "Unpacking White Privilege" in Lisa Hedke and Peg O’Connor (Eds.)
Oppression, Privilege and Resistance: Theoretical perspectives on Racism, Sexism and
Heterosexism. New York McGraw Hill. 2004. pp. 317-328.
Robert Moore. “Racist Stereotype in the English Language” in Margaret L.
Andersen and Patricia Hill Collins (Eds.) Race, Class and Gender. Belmont, CA:
Wadsworth. pp. 310-321.
Michael Omi and Howard Winant. “Racial Formations” in Paula Rothenberg
(Ed.) Race, Class and Gender in the United States New York: Worth Publishers. 2004.
pp. 18-28.
Wah, Lee Mun. Color of Fear. Berkeley: California Newsreel. 1994.