Mixed Race Studies

Scholarly perspectives on the mixed race experience.

Because the “presumption of freedom [arose] from color [white]” and the “black color of the race [raised] the presumption of slavery,” whiteness became a shield from slavery, a highly volatile and unstable form of property. In the form adopted in the United States, slavery made human beings market-alienable and in so doing, subjected human life and personhood—that which is most valuable—to the ultimate devaluation. Because whites could not be enslaved or held as slaves, the racial line between white and Black was extremely critical; it became a line of protection and demarcation from the potential threat of commodification, and it determined the allocation of the benefits and burdens of this form of property. White identity and whiteness were sources of privilege and protection; their absence meant being the object of property.

Slavery as a system of property facilitated the merger of white identity and property. Because the system of slavery was contingent on and conflated with racial identity, it became crucial to be “white,” to be identified as white, to have the property of being white. Whiteness was the characteristic, the attribute, the property of free human beings.

Cheryl I. Harris, “Whiteness as Property,” Harvard Law Review, (Volume 106, Number 8, June 1993). 1720-1721.

In Michigan, most people identify me as Asian, but here in California, I’m a white guy.

“In Michigan, most people identify me as Asian, but here in California, I’m a white guy,” Mark-Griffin said…

Chelsea Hawkins, “Mixed But Not Divided: Multi-ethnic populations redefine racial lines,” City on a Hill Press: A Student-Run Newspaper (University of California, Santa Cruz), October 20, 2011. http://www.cityonahillpress.com/2011/10/20/mixed-but-not-divided/

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2012 at 01:27Z and is filed under Asian Diaspora, Excerpts/Quotes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Mixed Race Studies

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