Meaning Of Racial Worldview

Racial Worldview What is the definition of “racial worldview”? According to Audrey Smedley “racial worldview” is a way of perceiving the world’s people as being divided into exclusive and discrete groups called “races” that are ranked hierarchically. In other words, Smedley believes that people of the same skin color are categorize into a group and a forcefully given a position on the social scale based on their pigment of their skin. So what is race? A simple definition of race would be a shared observable, physical/phenotype characteristic. A more complex definition of race is that it can be seen as a concept which signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by reforming to a different types of human bodies (Omi and Winant …show more content…
Well, let us begin with the Indians also known as Native Americans. White Americans saw Native Americans as “savages” and felt that it was manifest destiny to take over Native Americans land so they can expand. In addition, white Americans believed that “civilizing” Native Americans (learning how to speak, dress, clean, and eat in the American way) was also Manifest Destiny. From this you get a glimpse of how white Americans believed they were above Native Americans, and constantly looked down upon Native Americans. Especially when Native Americans are called savages as if they were wild animals. Americans thought if they taught Native Americans the “American way” they would be willing to give up their land, but to the Americans surprise the Natives were not willing. White Americans took their power and tried to remove the Indians like roaches. This removal would be known as the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which was a force march of 5 tribes to relocate to Oklahoma. Many Native Americans felt they can fight against them with the law. In 1832, Cherokee v Georgia was taken to court. The Cherokee Nation wanted to sue the state of Georgia to prevent them from imposing state laws on Cherokee territory. The outcome, Native Americans cannot be protected under state law because they were considered a foreign/sovereign state. This shows that Native Americans had no place in the …show more content…
As white settlers tried to build their nation, they noticed that they cannot and did not know how to do anything. But as they traded goods along the lines, they noticed a particular skill set that was possessed by Africans which was desired by English men. What they wanted, they did receive, leading to the creation of the Trans-Atlantic Trade, which was a trade of supplies for African people. This confirms that white Americans ranked themselves high on the charts because they saw Africans as property and not human beings, just as if they were baseball cards. This kind of treatment continues on during enslavement. By law Africans were tangible property and if they went against their owners, they would receive a very harsh and brutal punishment. Punishment such as whippings, heavy head gear, muzzles, hot box or even killed. This proves that Africans were “below” white Americans, and treated as animals because their skin complexion was darker than your average white American. An example of this would be the court case of the State of Missouri v Celia, 1855. Which was a case where Celia, a slave who was raped by her master murder him. The court ruled in the state favor explaining that she was his property and he had the right to do whatever he wants to his property. Celia was given the death penalty and was publicly