Wilson made an observation regarding public policy, public media and public perceptions that is both profound and commonplace. The role of racial rhetoric (grounded in White Supremacist ideology) in the political economy of America, the West is oft cited, well-known and axiomatic except for those who are most impoverished by its its effect. The power of dreams in the minds of those with the least to lose and the most to gain can be counter-productive and their role counter-intuitive. The assertion that racism has been the fulcrum used by the rich (which some might think includes people like Oprah Winfrey and the two Michaels - Jackson and Jordan) and the wealthy (which is clearly mostly male and virtually all White - - - in America) to keep the poor (both Black and White) in their place is both bold and pedestrian. Who can deny it, disprove it or debate it?
Many historians point to one hundred years before the hallowed American revolution for freedom and justice in 1776 to Bacon's Rebellion in colonial Virginia in 1676 as the trigger for the institution of chattel slavery for people of African descent in America. Prior to Bacon's Rebellion both Whites and Blacks were subjected to indentured servitude where they would give their labor for a prescribed number of years before being released to live as free (though often impoverished) men and women. However, the response to Black and White indentured servants joining together in an uprising against landowners triggered the faithful decision to divide and conquer the poor by relegating Blacks to chattel slaves and Whites to wage slaves. The unequal treatment of Blacks and Whites was evident in the 1640 decision resulting from Bacon's Rebellion where three indentured servants ran away. When recaptured the two Whites had their term of service extended a few years. The Black indentured servant, named John Punch, was sentenced to 'serve his master or his assigns for the time of his natural life.'
We see a distinction made in law that came to be a part of the cultural consciousness of America. Though you may be opressed and downtrodden, if you were of European descent you are viewed as having more rights than someone of African descent. Enshrined in law this became enshrined in the general consciousness of both Blacks and Whites. Then the wheels of social replication began to turn with Blacks relegated to lower status jobs, positions and places in society and the economy. This reinforced the role and place of both Blacks and Whites to the point where we have fallen into a trance and unthinkingly mimic our prescribed roles. However, this form of subjection and dominance was based on greed and the need to fuel the economic base with labor. Now with globalization the impact of this attitude has hit both those on the bottom of the political economy as well as those in the middle. With cheap foreign labor satisfying the need for production the White middle class is shrinking.
For American society this has resulted in the declining significance of race; not because Blacks are doing relatively better but because no-elite Whites are doing increasingly worse.
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