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Examples Of American Racial Hierarchy

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Racial Hierarchy The existence of an American racial hierarchy has been an undeniable constant throughout the country’s existence. Whites have always been at the top, and maintenance of the status quo is contingent on the marginalization and othering of minorities. Rickey Hill asserts that in the United States, “whiteness occupies the superior position in the racial hierarchy, because white people—as the dominant group and class—reproduce the power, social arrangements, and ideology that frame social reality” (Hill, 62). This definition of whiteness adds contextual salience to the election of Barack Obama. For the first time in American history, a non-white citizen occupied the highest elected position in the nation. One of the benefits of …show more content…

The ideology resulted in the oppression of minorities, and the normalization of this practice. The justification of this racism through the core belief that “the White race has been responsible for most of the good things in human history” is an example of how it is normalized (Schwartz, 293). One way in which the dominant group benefits from racial hierarchy is the assurance that someone will always be below them. Barack Obama’s presidency has been considered a threat to white supremacy due to the fact that it refutes this belief, as whites across the nation had to acknowledge a black man as their commander-in-chief for eight years. The fear of falling from prominence on the racial hierarchy stems from a fear of having nothing to compensate for the social gift of whiteness. In W.E.B. Du Bois’ work, Black Reconstruction in America, du Bois states …show more content…

(Prices are what they are currently and prices (therefore the purchasing power of money) are the same in states A and B.)
A. You have 2 weeks of vacation; others have 1 week. B: You have 4 weeks of vacation; others have 8 weeks.”(Solnick 378)
The majority of respondents chose A. They were willing to sacrifice their financial security just to ensure they were making more money than someone else. Elevation of minorities in societies threatens the racial hierarchy and the deep-rooted belief of white

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