(from Critical Race Theory handout on July 16, 2008)
- a simplistic paradigm of racial relations based on either or
- promotes a divide and conquer strategy among people of color
- feeds into the dualism that shaped the U.S. value system (two elements usually oppositional)
- discourages perception of common interests among people of colour
- totally ignores the presence in U.S. of other communities of colour (Asian, Latino, Multiracial, American Indian)
- 3 reasons why binary exists:
- numbers – AA had been the largest minority population in the country
- geography-U.S. political culture is White dominated and U.S. centrism prevents country from taking a look at more global issues
- history-white enslavement of AA provided models for racism that still exists
Latinos and Asian/Pacific Americans are victims of national minority rather than racial oppression (includes language, “aliens”, immigrants)
Delgado, R. (1998). The black/white binary: How does it work? In R. Delgado & Stefancic (Eds.) The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (pp. 369-375). New York: New York University Press.
Martinez, E. 91998). Beyond Black/White: The racisms of our time. In R. Delgado & Stefancic (Eds.) The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (pp. 466-477). New York: New York University Press.