Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Race-The Power of an Illusion (via lati-negros)

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(via mimitakestheleftturn)

I think it’s important to note that the first wave of Irish immigrants were treated like rodents. 

I think it’s also important to note that the identity of being “American” didn’t pop out of thin air. It took a long time to develop, because they were British colonists first and then they were loyal to states which led to the Civil War. 

One of the things the 18th century British empire had in common with the new American nation was that they both had principles of liberty. Britain had parliament, America had its whole thing going on… but both practiced slavery. The principles of freedom, democracy and liberty were hypocritical because they weren’t put into practice on their “subject” peoples, even as they lauded themselves for the rights they gave themselves. 

This changed over time. And America had a hard time with its initially mostly-white population taking in first the huge swathes of Mexican territory after the Mexican War (with it millions of former Mexicans), then freeing the black slaves, and so on. 

The problem with this quote is that it takes history out of context. America, just like most countries, figured things out as it went along and it reacted to situations as they happened, sometimes regressing and sometimes rolling with the times. There was no great initial plan to say “Let’s let everyone come here, but let’s let the coloured peoples do the crappy work.” 

It just happened, with various tragedies along the way, but there was no great White Person Plan for America.