Chapter Review
The idealism of race and property has existed since the early 20th century. The individual's race determined the economic, political, and social security. The author’s grandmother struggles with survival with two children living as a single mother. Eventually, she hides her identity as a Black woman at workplaces dominated by whites in order to secure her job. Her story illustrates the valorization of whiteness as treasured property in a society built on a racial castle (Harris, 1993). White supremacy over the Black people and Native American people transformed whiteness from color, to race, to status, and eventually to property.
Whiteness in forms of status and property can be observed from popular Paradigm cases such as the Brown v. Board of Education case (Harris, 1993). Racial domination is the main cause for the origin of property rights. The hyper – exploitation of Black labor was done by treating the black people involved as property. Slavery is one of the legal regimes that attempted the conversion of Blacks into objects of property. The modern view of property links property to social significance hence includes aspects such as jobs, contracts, occupational licenses, and subsidies (Harris, 1993).
The property is a basis of expectation in the sense that there is an advantage in its possession. Property functions of whiteness include its rights of disposition, the right to use and enjoyment, the reputation and status attached, and the total right to exclusion. The law accepted and legitimized whiteness as property concept by the following an objective, bounded, and scientific definitions of race “Historical Race.”
The concept of Whiteness as the property was appreciated through its radicalized privilege, and the rights and national identity. The property interest in whiteness as a legal doctrine perceived in Plessy and Brown shows how whiteness was the tool for acquiring all the societal privileges in both the private and the public spheres. Whiteness determined the legibility of an individual to vote, attend schools, travel freely, and obtain work (Harri, 1993). Whiteness also determined the structure of social relations which encompassed the ability of the individual to interact with the rest of the society. Whiteness adopted the character of property due to the abolition of racial segregation in order to balance their impression of the status quo.
Critical Analysis
All the issues addressed in the chapter have a significance based on the evidence seen in modern day society. It is important to understand the relationship between job entitlement and whiteness to explain the modern day economic domination of the white people. The white people dominate most businesses and job opportunities in the upper economic scale. The information provided in the chapter is vital to help explain the fact that the white impression of Black people as property during the slavery era was the origin of most modern day perspectives of the white people on the Black people.
Alternatively, the reason why most White people continue to embrace he aspect of whiteness as the property is due to the privileges that are associated such as status, enjoyment, and exclusiveness. Many modern day stories can be related to the grandmother’s story back in the 20th century to justify the idea of whiteness as property.
Seemingly, the idea of whiteness can still be witnessed in the modern world manifested through various stratifications of the society. There are still many educational intuitions in most high social class environments that still embrace white privilege and dominance. Despite the fact aspects such as sports have tried to neutralize the perspective of whiteness as property, the job market still faces many challenges in leveling the occupational privileges between the white people and the Black people.
References
Harris, C. I. (1993). Whiteness as Property. The Harvard Law Review, Volume 106
