Being White in America

taxi observes, "[While] the nation's dominant antecedents be European, as is its reliance on Western literature and learning, this is seen as a cultural, not a racial heritage" (p. 10). Hacker contends that, throughout history, new immigrants from all corners of the globe have " amaze duster" through their willingness to assimilate into the dominant culture, accepting "mistrust, not to mention violence and hostility" (p. 12) in the beginning. Hacker writes, "Immigrants atomic number 18 allowed entry on the condition that they serve as affordable labor and live unobtrusively" (p. 12).

He suggests that purity the States's unwillingness to welcome former slaves into full society after the urbane War prevented them from enjoying the privileges of assimilation extended to all others who came freely to the fall in States. He writes, "The ideology that had provided the rationale for slavery did not disappear. Blacks act to be seen as an inferior species, not only unfitting for equality but not even meriting a possibility to show their worth" (pp. 15-16). Michael Novick (1995) sees a broader picture but concurs with Hacker's popular opinion of slavery as a root problem: "The sociable formation which has sprung up in this country is based on whitened supremacy and colonialism, slavery and the conquest of land" (p. 10).

face cloth America continues to hold power over those brought across the Atlantic as unwilling property. However, defining "white" has be

come an increasingly difficult task. Richard Dyer, discussing the ways in which white power is expressed in film, notes the difficulty, "partly because white power secures its dominance by seeming not to be anything in particular, but also because, when whiteness . . . does come into focus, it is lots revealed as emptiness, absence, denial or even a cordial of death" (p. 44). He includes in his discussion the film dark of the Living Dead, which has a black man as its hero, menaced and in the end devoured by an all-white horde of zombies. The film offers an interesting metaphor for the white fear of blacks, especially black males, and society's power to destroy those by whom it feels threatened.

This low-budget horror film still stands as a compelling reflection of the white-vs.-black situation in America. Racist intuition of the black man causes society to demonstrate its power, even from beyond the grave.

Philomena Essed (1990) points out how essential power is to the equation of racism:

Novick, M. (1995). pureness lies, white power: The fight against white supremacy and right violence. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

At the same time, radical white supremacist groups have begun to rise again in prominence and membership. Novick (1995) observes, " genius of the appeals of the racist right forces . . . is that they offer simplistic solutions for the problems of our society by providing scapegoats - Blacks, immigrants, Jews, gays" (p. 6). Blacks in particular are the most obvious target, scarce because they are the easiest to identify. In troubled, uncertain times, extremists within white America develop sympathy for their cause by blaming the easily place "other."

Feagin and Sikes (1994) point out, "Racism is central to the lives of white Americans . . . even though many whites deny its presence or effects" (p. 319). As the civil rights movement has raised public distaste for leave bigotry, white America has come to believe that ra
Order your essay at Orderessay and get a 100% original and high-quality custom paper within the required time frame.