In his book Between the World and Me, the author brings many examples of the American dream’s dependence on racial inequality. Understanding and distinguishing differences are a part of a person’s upbringing and not something people are born with. The analyzed quote advocates that the division of the species, humans included, by some genetic specifics is natural and normal. Still, racism uses such division to subdue particular groups and build an unjust social hierarchy. The main idea of the mentioned quote is that assigning race, not as a matter of biology but as a social and political concept, is an outcome of racism and not the reason for it.
To support Coates’s judgment, an explanation of the concept of race is necessary. Racial identification is used not only to distinguish groups of people but primarily to suppress racial groups and establish control over them. By the suggestion of Omi and Winant (2014), racial identification is not based on genetic aspects. The most significant parts of a person’s racial identification lay in the way they connect and communicate with society. The concept of race can be fluid and depends on the political situation and cultural and social ideologies. To sum up, it is the concept that primarily exists in and relies on social and mass consciousness.
Racial segregation was used as a criterion for oppression, but it was not an instant process. Normalization of the diminishing people by race happens gradually, at first, to find justification for horrible actions that happen during European colonization. Dehumanization of the victims of genocides was an essential part of explaining the supposed rightfulness of such crimes. It was an entirely artificial process launched by the ruling classes and enforced on the masses (Omi & Winant, 2014). Racism was used to create a worldview in which some were worthy of life and others were not.
Racial color blindness is one of the pillars of inequality worth mentioning. Some argue that in a perfect society, race would not exist, and everyone would be treated equally. Therefore, there is no need for minority support for everyone to have the same opportunities. Nevertheless, the reality is far from such a utopia, so in judging possibilities for minorities, it is crucial to consider hundreds of years of oppression (Bonilla-Silva, 2017). Solutions can be found only by appealing to a complete and rational understanding of the problem. This concept can successfully exist only in theoretical society. At the same time, it is only a means to avoid or diminish the problem of racism and the struggles of minorities in the real world.
The idea of having any privilege based on race was brought up in people who do not recognize the value of their possibilities. McIntosh (1989) uses the pompous word privilege to describe generic and simple actions accessible to white people and restricted to minorities to show the absurdity of oppression. Society appealed to fundamental human rights, such as freedom, as something unique that should be deserved by having a specific genetic factor: skin color.
The quote of Ta-Nehisi Coates from his book Between the World and Me appeals to the cultural and social roots of racism. It is undeniable that racial suppression was born not from some biological factors but from the cruelness and justification of genocide. It is vital to recognize race as a combination of artificially enforced social attitudes, biased stereotypes, and prejudices produced by racism and not only as a pattern of biological features.
References
Bonilla-Silva, E. (2017). Racism without racists: color-blind racism and the persistence of racial inequality in America. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
McIntosh, P. (1989). White privilege: Unpacking the invisible knapsack. Peace and Freedom Magazine, 10–12.
Omi, M., & Winant, H. (2014). Racial formation in the United States (third edition). Routledge.