To address racial disparities, we have to talk about ethnicity
White supremacy is very sinister. We hate it, and because of that, it moves and operates in both obvious and covert ways. We cannot dismantle or imagine a world without white supremacy if we do not understand how it works and operates in our current US society.
So, because of that, I want to introduce you to a sociological theory or concept that will be very useful for you to understand how white supremacy and anti-Blackness work, so that you do not become an agent of white supremacy and anti-Blackness. In my work, I define white supremacy as the social, political, and economic dominance of people defined as ‘white’. Who counts as white has changed, but greater access and resources for those who are categorized as white have not. When I say access to resources, I’m referring to social and economic resources such as income, education, wealth, and social networks. Anti-Blackness speaks to the historical and pervasive dehumanization of Black people, or people racialized as Black - it suggests that Black people must remain subordinate to non-Black people and associates Blackness with negative connotations. Anti-Blackness allows for the persistent exploitation of Black people and their labor throughout the world.
Ethnicity. Racialization. Ethoracial Hierarchy.
So let’s give a brief sociological history of ethnicity and race, so you have a better understanding of why we cannot detach race and ethnicity. Race is not biological or innate, despite how common this belief is. Our current understanding of race was created by Europeans to serve as a hierarchical categorization system of people. Race is also a social construct, meaning it is not fixed across place, space, or time.
Ethnicity is defined as a group identity based on notions of similar or shared history, culture, and kinship [1]. Furthermore, ethnicity can be understood as the “internal assertion of one’s membership”, meaning members of an ethnic group have made a conscious decision to belong to a specific ethnic group (Bashi-Treitler 2013:21). This work posits that any type of identity connected to ethnicity is rooted in the belief in shared ancestry. Contemporary social science research on ethnicity relies on three main components to conceptualize ethnicity: (1) ancestry, (2) culture, and (3) history. People may see race with nationality, but nationality is connected to ethnicity - we are socialized in the US to see national identities as racialized groups.
Ethnicity predates race. It is not inherently hierarchical, but groups throughout history have used shared ancestry, language, and/or shared history to forge an ethnic identity. In a recent video I shared online, I argued that racial-ethnic identity is more salient than racial identity in the US. Some Black people were upset by that, and I choose to believe it’s because they read that claim as a seed for division rather than a way to get more specific about how forms of structural oppression work.
What does it mean to be racialized? Racialization is a sociological process of placing individuals or groups into categories, with the aim of making it easy for those in the US to ascribe beliefs about a group’s culture or origin to understand its status in society.
“When newcomers enter the United States, their group is labeled in ways that help natives to “read” the members of the group rather quickly. A racialized fiction about the newcomers’ origins, prospects, culture, and physical appearance indicates their status position. They are ascribed a race that becomes identified with the ethnonational label they are either forced to adopt or self-identify with once they are on American soil.” (Bashi-Treitler 2013:44)
The Ethnoracial Hierarchy
and why it matters
In her work, Bashi-Treitler uses the concept of the existing ethnoracial hierarchy to examine successful (e.g., Irish, Chinese, Italians, Jews), struggling (e.g., Mexicans, Indigenous Americans, Afro-Caribbeans, and failing (African Americans) ethnic projects. I strongly urge you to read The Ethnic Project: Transforming Racial Fiction Into Ethnic Factions.
While race and ethnicity are utilized to make sense of identity, social action, and other elements related to micro-level interactions, race and ethnicity, especially in the US, also operate within an anti-Black and white supremacist structure of oppression. Because of this, it is necessary to examine the power and privilege that exist at the intersection of race and ethnicity. The ethnoracial hierarchy is understood as a stratification system, which accounts for how race and ethnicity are used to place groups in a ranking order that determines who has access to resources and other societal privileges. In order for the ethnoracial hierarchy to remain the same, it needs Blackness to remain a monolith because it doesn’t want to interrogate global Black solidarity or acknowledge that Black people are equally aware of their oppression and privilege of Black groups globally. This intersectional approach is essential for understanding how systems of oppression like white supremacy leverage race and ethnicity to maintain stratified societal structures.
I maintain my position that in order for us to think critically about the current socio-economic positioning and disenfranchisement of Black people in the US, it is important for us to understand what the ethnoracial hierarchy is. It is impossible to work against structural manifestations of the ethnoracial hierarchy if we don’t even know it exists. Our oppression isn’t fixed, but we cannot imagine other alternatives if we are not clear about the forces that are oppressing us. Looking beyond race is a necessary step to combating the structural oppression we as Black people, especially Black Americans, face in the US.
Your Homework
more reading and daydreaming
If we are going to resist against fascist and anti-Black regimes, we, as a collective, must read more. So much of what is happening in our current society is due to us (" us” used loosely) not getting it right the first time. The Black experience in the US now eerily mirrors the situation and circumstances of Black people during the Reconstruction era. We must look at what’s already happened in order to daydream and imagine an alternative reality. I share lots of reading recommendations on my Instagram if you're looking for periodic reading suggestions. Here are immediate recommendations that come to mind:
Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B DuBois
Black Cosmopolitan by Ifeoma Kiddoe Nwankwo
The Struggle for Black Equality by Harvard Sitkoff
Happy daydreaming!
