Recognizing Systemic Racism as a Global Issue

Chapter Summary

In this chapter, the historical context that gave life to the racial hierarchy in Europe and other nations around the world will be discussed with the use of contemporary examples. This chapter will provide examples of key historical moments and current examples that reflect general trends of racism around the world.

Annotated Chapter Outline

       Introduction

A.   

I.   The denial of racism is common in European countries, where issues of race and racism are perceived as external and contrary to European values.

i. The post WWII efforts to get rid of race did not eliminate it but caused it to take on new dimensions.

ii. Racism in Europe excludes those who do not fit into a generalized idea of what it means to be European, which includes being White.

II.         Race is Not a Uniquely American Experience: Race impacts people’s everyday lives in every corner of the globe.

i. Racialized: ascribing racial characteristics to people

ii. Race as a concept is not accepted everywhere in the way we understand it in the United States.

a.   For example, some western European countries use ethnicity, immigration status, or generation to classify individuals instead of race.

B.   Racism Without Racial Classifications

i. The French have an extreme unease with race, leading to mainstream antiracism efforts to focus on promoting universalism.

a.   Universalism: the idea that France is one and indivisible and that everyone is the same

ii. Germany does not keep track of racial demographics, categorizing differences based on one’s nationality or experience with migration.

iii. Countries like France and Germany refuse to acknowledge race because of the history of WWII and use of racial hierarchies to justify the Holocaust.

iv. Hate Crimes

a.   Tend to be motivated by racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism

v. Everyday Racism

a.   Germans recounted their experiences of everyday racism through the #MeTwo hashtag in 2018.

b.   In 2019, undocumented migrants in France organized the Gilet Noirs movement to protect the systemic racism in French society and their exploitative treatment.

C.   Why Think About Race and Racism on a Global Level?

i. Race is a key part of global and national histories, and we need to know these worldwide patterns in order to understand race at a local level.

ii. Race and ethnicity continue to impact people’s everyday lives around the world.

III.        Historical Context: Race and Empire: Race and racism were central to imperialism and colonial endeavors.

i. Imperialism: the underlying ideology behind efforts to attain control and power over other nations, groups, or territories

ii. Colonialism: the practice of exerting political, social, and economic control over another territory and its inhabitants

B.   European Imperialism

i. Imperial endeavors of European nations have shaped our current modern landscape through their conquest of “new” lands and people they “discovered.”

ii. Settler Colonies

a.   Settler colonies: established by Europeans across the Americas with the purpose to dominate the Indigenous populations and take over all aspects of life (social, cultural, political, and economic)

a.   Led to profit of natural resources, cheap human labor and slavery.

iii. The Civilizing Mission

a.   Civilizing mission: designating Indigenous people in the colonies as uncivilized people with inferior cultures

a.   Played a key role in imperialism.

b.   Assimilate: to shed one’s culture and take on the colonizer’s culture

a.   For example, French colonies Indigenous children had to learn French and study French history.

c.   Cultural racism: presents Indigenous cultures as inferior, barbaric, weak, uncivilized, and in need of saving

a.   The civilization mission is an example of cultural racism.

C.   Slavery

i. Establishing clear racial demarcations and hierarchies provided a tool for settlers to oppress the Native populations and use them as cheap or forced labor.

ii. Slavery was an integral aspect of imperialism and colonialism and helped fuel the economies of countries profiting from a global slave trade.

a.   The transatlantic slave trade spanned three centuries and several regions across the world.

a.   The trade involved the transfer of captives to the colonies in the Americas, with ships returning to Europe with the crops and agriculture products produced by the enslaved persons.

b.   The Indian Ocean slave trade involved Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

c.   Racist ideology was spread outside of the colonies through propaganda and media.

d.   Blackbirding: involved coercing and entrapping Pacific Islanders to work on Australian plantations

D.   Exhibiting White Supremacy on a Global Stage

i. Throughout the colonial period, images and stories about explorers and colonists’ encounters with “inferior” and “exotic” races made their way to the general public.

a.   Examples of this include the crude displays of the Piccadilly Circus, the 1889 Parisian World Fair’s “Negro village,” and King Leopold II’s Brussels International Exposition of Congolese people.

IV.        Legacies of Colonial Racism: Colonialism has had a lasting impact on former colonies by creating forms of racism and racial hierarchies that still affect people worldwide today.

A.   Enduring Postcolonial Racial Categories

i. Colonial empires came crumbling down as waves of independence hit the Americas in the 19th century.

a.   Rebellions and independence movements challenged the authority and power of the colonizers.

ii. Structural inequalities did not dissipate when colonies became independent nations, however.

a.   An example is the “marital race” distinction used in India after becoming independent from British colonists.

iii. Some South and Central American countries focused their postindependence nation-building on race mixing to move beyond the strict racial classifications imposed by colonial regimes.

a.   Racial mixing, in practice, was often a cover for Whitening.

iv. In South Africa, racial hierarchies took even stronger root after South African became a sovereign state.

a.   Apartheid: a segregation regime

a.   The 1950 Population Registration Act classified people into four racial categories and restricted the participation of non-Whites in economic and social areas.

b.   Social movements helped make apartheid untenable and strides were made in the early 1990s with the negotiation of a new constitution, yet structural inequalities persist.

B.   Colorism and White Standards of Beauty

i. Preference of “Western” standards of beauty.

a.   Colorism: involves prejudice and discrimination against people with darker skin.

b.   Products prey on the long-established idea that lightening your skin can lead to a better life.

c.   Beauty standards that prioritize Western and White physiques reinforce racial hierarchies in people’s everyday lives, negatively shaping how racialized minorities are seen and how they perceive themselves.

C.   Postwar Migration Perpetuating Colonial Dynamics

i. European nations encouraged migration to fulfill the need for workers to rebuild economies and cities after WWII.

a.   This led to higher numbers of racialized ex-colonial subjects living and working in former colonial power and through tactics of assimilation, cultural racism persisted.

ii. Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests erupted worldwide, fighting against racism and challenging the colonial legacies and symbols that remained in former colonies,

V.         Contemporary Examples of Systemic Racism Around the World: Systemic racism persists in many parts of the world, evolving from migratory patterns, conflicts, natural disasters, and changing power formations between countries.

A.   Education

i. Race and ethnicity can affect educational opportunities at all elves

B.   Politics

i. Exclusion or marginalization from political life is particularly problematic for racial or ethnic minorities.

a.   An example is the Roma people in central and Eastern Europe.

C.   Health

i. Racism contributes to poor health outcomes in disadvantaged racial populations.

a.   The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic affected communities of color and racialized groups the most.

D.   Housing

i. Race impacts where and how you live.

ii. In Latin America and Caribbean cities, people of African descent are more likely to live in slums, lacking access to clean water, adequate sanitation, and secure dwellings.

E.   Islamophobia

i. Islamophobia: the hate, fear, or discrimination of Muslims or people that appear Muslim

a.   Politicians and social commentators racialize Muslims by associating negative characteristics to the entire Muslim population assuming they are due to their biological makeup.

b.   Variety of violent attacks and hate crimes against Muslims have been prevalent throughout the world.

c.   Muslim migrant populations face racism due to the perception that they are unable to integrate into the Western world.

a.   This has led to the banning of Islamic symbols from public life, like the banning of ban niqabs and burqas.

F.   Xenophobia

i. Xenophobia: the fear, dislike, or hatred of people from other countries

a.   Does not always rely on physical characteristics in the same way that racism does, focusing more on nationality, culture, ethnicity, or religious practices.

ii. Antihaitianismo: refers to Dominicans’ dislike and opposition to Haiti and Haitians

a.   Reflects the colonial tensions and racialized differences between the two countries that share the island of Hispaniola in the West Indies.

G.   Indigenous Populations

i. Settler colonialism devastated Indigenous populations everywhere.

ii. In Canada, the Indigenous populations face stereotyping, stigmatization, violence, and systemic racism.

iii. In Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face inequalities that impact all areas of life, including health and educational and occupational opportunities.

iv. Indigenous people in Latin America confront disadvantages due to historical patterns of oppression stemming from colonialism in the areas of basic rights and access to basic social services.

H.   New Apartheid Regimes

i. Despite the fact that the international community has explicitly denounced legal segregation based on race or ethnicity, it remains a problem in many parts of the world.

a.   An example being Israel’s marginalized treatment of Palestinians and other Arabs.

VI.        Racialized Global Dynamics: Through looking at relationships among countries in addition to global migration patterns and humanitarian efforts, we can identify different ways in which race shapes inequalities.

A.   International Movement of People

i. Migration is challenging due to wealthier countries tightening and expanding restrictions on who they let into their nations.

ii. Migrant Workers

a.   Anti-immigrant rhetoric in the West portrays migrants and unnecessary burdens coming to take away jobs and resources from nationals.

a.   However, some countries actively seek migrants to fill gaps in their workforce (i.e. the UAE and Qatar), resulting in exploitation of labor and abuse.

iii. Fortress Europe and the Global Refugee Crisis

a.   The UK has policies that target undocumented migrants, which is an attempt of managed migration.

a.   Managed migration: an attempt to restrict migration

b.   European immigration policy is limiting even the possibility of refugees applying for asylum due to war, natural disaster, and/or persecution.

a.   Few nations opened their doors in 2015 as millions of migrants from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan tried to get to Europe.

b.   Many migrants are stuck on the Greek island of Lesbos, living in terrible conditions in refugee camps.

B.   Global Powers and Racist Stereotypes

i. Political discourse and legal restrictions against people from certain countries emphasizes that there is still a strict hierarchy splitting the “West” and the “rest.”

a.   An example being President Trump’s Muslim ban in January 2017.